A Week of Northern Vietnam

We've spent the past week in Vietnam, and all I can say is that everyone needs to come here. The scenery, people and culture here are all so beautiful.

We spent the first few days in Hanoi - the capitol of the country. I was pretty much expecting it to be crowds and chaos, but it was quite charming (as well as crowded and chaotic). First of all, everyone drives motorbikes. I mean, probably about 5% of the motor vehicles in this country are non-motorbikes. And there are no road rules, hence why I have not tried to ride one. But there is organized chaos - when you cross the street, the motorists swerve around you and you feel pretty safe. Except that time we saw a young boy get hit by a car. But moving on. The people are absolutely amazing. Everyone smiles and says hello and makes you feel so welcome and at home. And you see all ages out and about - it makes you realize just what a lazy culture we are. Here, old ladies are carrying heavy loads of food down the streets, biking around the city, holding down their shops until late into the night, it is so impressive to see how hard-working everyone is. The setup of the city is interesting too - there are streets dedicated to certain types of stores. For example, there is a street where they sell hardware, one for paper goods, one for silk goods, and even one for gravestones (including an example of one with Britney Spears. She's not dead, right?).

Next we took a tour to Halong Bay. We took a tour out to these old-fashioned boats, ones that you think would be cruising down the Mississippi. Here's a photo to show what they are like.So we had a huge lunch of seafood on the boat, then spent the day kayaking and cruising around the bay, and later that night we slept on the boat. It was just amazing. So calm in the water. And we shared the boat with a group of really crazy, funny people.

The next day we went to the only inhabited island in the bay and did the hardest hike of my life. I'm not kidding. There were stairs for miles; I would even call it rock-climbing at one point. At the end we reached the top for some amazing views. I hiked up to the top of this old abandoned post, which I was quite proud of myself because I forgot how much I am scared of heights. Granted, it took me about ten minutes to get up (and it was only three flights of stairs) but nonetheless, I made it. Here's the view for you all to imagine just how scary it would be for me and how proud you are of me.
Anyways, next we headed to our hotel in the Cat Ba (the island's name) town. It was there that I had my first (and I am betting not last) experience with a karaoke bar. It was filled with westerners and the Vietnamese tour guides, and of course everyone sang TERRIBLY, but it was thoroughly entertaining. There were the usuals - I Will Survive, Country Road, You Can't Touch This (rapped by a girl). Yes, good times you can imagine. So you know, we did not take over the mic and sing, I am saving it for a time when I've had a few more drinks and have had some time to warm up (mentally). It will come though, don't you worry.

Now when I write about this next part of my trip, I know you will all think we are the biggest whimps when it comes to traveling, but I swear, we have been having the worst luck with transport here. We took the overnight bus to Hoi An, and it was four hours delayed (due to a few people not having tickets, which took about an hour to sort out, and then our bus shut down. Thankfully, after taking out something which looked like the engine and re-inserting it, it ran relatively fine). Another unfortunate fact of the bus ride I will make - no air-conditioning. I believe it was recirculated air from outside, and it was a hot night so I slept drenched in a layer of sweat. (Thank god for travel wipes!)

But we made it, better later than never, to Hoi An. And we absolutely love it here. We are paying $30 total for all three of us to be in this amazing hotel. Swimming pool, rice fields out back, free breakfast, it's like we're living in this mansion in the middle of the Mississippi delta. (Strange that I've now referred to Mississippi twice considering I've never been there) And it's a shopper's dream here. I'm getting shorts tailor made for $10, and I bought a bunch of stuff at a crafts workshop where they employ handicapped workers, and they are all working in the back so you can see them in action. It's an amazing place, it has a Mediterranean feel to it and narrow winding streets. I could stay here for a long long time. Here are some photos from today so you can imagine it.

Day of worsts

I know I begin with a title that sounds dramatic, but it's true. I had a day and a half of my life filled with the worst experiences I have ever had. Character-building though.

Anyways, we had to somehow get from Hong Kong to Hanoi, and we chose to go via train, which is the only way to do it really except for bus (which could have been even more frightening) and flight (we are poor backpackers). So we leave on a train from Hong Kong to Guangzhou, about three hours. Not bad - I'm feeling good at this point. The train is nice and I listen to my Ipod so I'm happy. Except that the batteries die at the end of the trip.

In Guangzhou, my relative in Hong Kong had arranged for someone to meet us there with our ticket, since we had to have it pre-purchased because of the new year, with everything being sold out until this time. So we took a taxi to the hotel he was staying at - about 25 minutes away. A successful handover - he gave us the tickets, and we had some food. When I say food, I mean vegetable sticks, because that was the only thing we could eat on the menu that didn't contain meat. Keep this in mind as I continue my story... we have not eaten a lot at this point. So we head back in the taxi to the train station, leaving just enough time. Now is my tiny piece of advice to anyone traveling in Guangzhou - there are TWO, count them TWO, train stations. One named Guangzhou Dong, the other Guangzhou. Duh. Of course we should have known that. Nevermind NOBODY asking us when we told them we were going to the train station, which one? Well we of course find this out when we get there, throw a quick panic attack, then hop in a taxi, Amazing Race-style, to just plain Guangzhou train station. And when we get there it is madness. They have added hundreds of trains to account for all the travelers over the holiday, so we are three of thousands, and the only westerns, so everyone is having a field day just staring at our misfortune. They literally just stare at us. After confusion from the staff about where to go, we run and just catch our train. Ok, now this train is an overnighter and we have bunks. But these bunks are three bunks tall, and you share a compartment with 5 others. And each train car has about 75 people on it. I am not kidding. And this was a 12 hour train ride, arriving at 4am. And lucky me gets the ticket by herself, so I have no one to talk with when I'm in my bed. Anyways, I decided this was going to be fun, even though we can't communicate with any of the Chinese people on the train. We eat rice and spinach, the only thing the meal cart people can understand, and then I get ready for bed. Now, anyone who knows me knows my biggest annoyance ever - snoring. So I consider it some sort of karma, that on a train with probably at least 20 train cars, each car having about 75 people, I get in the same compartment with three snorers. And I know some people are random snorers, but these were continual snorers. Going from about 10pm until we arrived. So Krissy did not sleep. Maybe an hour. Oh, and the worst part of this train ride was the toilet. The public toilets here are urinals in the ground. For girls. I won't paint the picture, but you can imagine. Well this toilet was the most disgusting I have ever seen in my life. I know I haven't seen too many disgusting toilets, but I swear if I had seen many many disgusting toilets in my life, THIS ONE would have been the worst. I have never smelled anything SO bad. So I didn't drink anything the rest of this trip.

It isn't over. SO we arrive in Nanning, the middle of nowhere really on the way to the border. We have to get out at 4.30am and buy tickets for the next leg of our train ride. And there are hundreds of us in line trying to fight our way to the front (please see previous blog post about Chinese and waiting in lines). Thank GOD we got tickets for this train, and we get onto one of the dirtiest trains I've seen (Geri witnessed a man vomiting through his hands) and have a three hour train ride to near the border.

So by this point, it's better. We take this fantastic taxi in a little buggy-type motorbike to the border, and the countryside is beautiful, everyone is smiling and waving as we pass, and we made it! We are in Hanoi now. I would write about it, but I am a bit exhausted from writing now and I bet you are a bit sick of reading, so I'll save my Vietnam post for next. Anyways, here is a photo of the train ride, for you to just imagine.

Visualizing our longest day ever

I got the photos working again, so here are a few photos from the Big Buddha, a.k.a. longest day ever.

Longest Day EVER

As today was our final day here, we planned to take a trip to Lantau Island, what sounded like a peaceful idyllic retreat from the city where we could visit the "Big Buddha" - what is reported in the guide books to be the only seated, bronze, outdoor buddha. Special characteristics clearly. Geri and I left this morning at what we thought was a decent hour, around 9.30am, to head out there as it is about 1/2 hour on the subway. So we exit, stand in line which doesn't look TOO bad, and after about a 1/2 hour of waiting, we find a sign next to us that reads "Estimated Waiting Time: 90 minutes". Keep in mind I'm still recovering from my sickness and have already turned a shade of yellow and almost fainted while standing for that long. But we figured that they would probably be overestimating the time and we'd already been waiting for long enough so we could tough it out. Would make sense, right? Well no. THREE hours later we get on board the cable car up to the mountain where the buddha is. That's I think the length of Schindlers List. In other words, TOO LONG. Especially when surrounded by 100s of people. On the positive side, while in this line, we learned many lessons of the Chinese: 1. Lines do not matter. They should not even be called lines at all, because as soon as it starts to move forward at any pace, everyone tries to shove by you. Even grandmas. And the amazing thing is that no one gets mad about it, so who were Geri and I to put up a fuss? 2. Give birth to children so you have a human force to push your way through lines. This we found to be true anywhere, on subways, the street, etc. If you have a child with you and you push them through first to get a seat on the subway, no one can really get mad at them and push them back. 3. The estimated length of waiting time is always underestimated!

Luckily, Geri and I met a new friend and we learned to laugh our way through it and had some memorable funny moments to our day, including a Buddhist vegetarian meal (another 1/2 hour wait for that) that included a rotten corn on the cob which we pawned off on our new friend (who has since left us. hmmm.) So in the end, it was a hilarious day. Who would have thought? Goes to show that things can be worth the wait.

So we're off tomorrow on a very long train ride to Vietnam so I should be reporting back in the next few days.

A photo

Just thought I'd add a photo to keep up the excitement for you guys. You ARE reading this, right? Really, is there anything more exciting?

Kung Hei Fat Choi

I should have bet money on who would be sick first, because I would have made good money, since yes, it's me. I'm currently recovering from some sort of flu. The kind of flu where your body feels like it weighs 5,000 tons and your head is about to explode. No but really, it was bad.

I don't want to give the impression that things are terrible because they actually are great. Hong Kong is absolutely fascinating. Having never stepped a foot in an Asian country, I had no idea really what to expect, aside from movies that is. (how sad.) So it really is huge billboards, millions of people on the street, food stalls everywhere, it's amazing. I would say it's crazier than New York.

The good/bad part about being here now is that it is Chinese New Year (hence the Kung Hei Fat Choi). Chinese New Year = a fantastic ambiance in the city with everyone buzzing about and decorations of oranges, red envelopes, all the essentials. But Chinese New Year also = everything closed, and lots and lots (and lots) of people. Due to this holiday, we had to extend our stay here for two days, which is actually good because there is so much more to see.

We've so far wandered the city, visited the Chinese and Vietnamese consulates to get our visas (yes, quite exciting), went to the botanical gardens, went up to the peak for amazing views of the huge skyline, took a trip to Macau, and just soaked up all the sights.

An insight - things are CHEAP! I think we were mislead when we were told that this is one of the most expensive cities. Yes, I am sure one could spend quite a bit of cash here, but we've had cheap meals, as in less than $5, and I bought a pair of Puma's for $15. I think that is unheard of. No? So we've been saving more money that we expected.

I better get some rest so I don't get sick again (no pity please :)) but I will be posting soon. Also, I'm uploading images to a website which I'll put a link to at the end of each leg of the trip. I'm really excited to show you all the photos.

Miss you all! xxx

On my way! Well, almost.

The countdown has begun and I'm departing lovely Melbourne in a few days to start my journey home. I figured I'd spare myself a few years of getting carpal tunnel from massive email writing by keeping this blog while I'm gone to keep you all posted on the interesting highlights of the trip, like any mosquito attacks, child adoptions, ping pong shows, etc. While my life tends to be on the boring side, I am sure that this will be quite an exciting trip. Stay tuned...