Hanoi
The hotel sent a car to pick us up from the airport - as this doesn't happen very often, if at all, I get really excited at the fact that someone is waiting at the airport with my name on a bit of paper! Sad I know but it's the little things I like! All the cars seemed pretty fancy, no clapped out old things that you would fear for your life if you had to get in them which was a bit of a surprise! The driving was still a bit crazy and took some getting used to - as usual there was a lot of beeping at each other for no particular reason, other than they could, and it was like the survival of the fittest - people overtook, changed lanes, turned off etc and took their life in their hands every time some sort of manoeuvre occurred! But there weren't any crashes or anything, everyone seemed to know their place in the food chain and who they had to give way to!
There were loads of bikes and scooters on the road, and people were massively overloaded with big barrels of water, flowers, boxes, it was pretty unbelievable that they managed to balance with this much weight on the bike, let alone ride it anywhere! There was also the usual men weeing at the side of the street which is always lovely to see, and the best thing that I saw was a man vacuuming the road!!! I couldn't believe it, why would you do that?!!!
The houses over here are a bit odd - they're really narrow and are generally a couple of stories high and they go back quite far. The front of the houses are really ornate and nicely painted, they look really nice and modern, but then the sides are just grey concrete so it looks a bit strange! They look pretty cool though as the fronts are painted in all different colours and are really bright. They're not all like this though, especially as you get closer to the city there are a lot more buildings that are a bit ramshackle and crumbling but people still manage to live in them and I guess somewhere to live is better than nowhere to live...
Everyone at the hotel is lovely - they make you so welcome and are so smiley and friendly! They wouldn't even let us carry our own bags, someone brought them in from the car and then someone else took them up to our room! Nothing was too much trouble for them and I feel like I'm being treated like royalty!! Such a step up from a hostel where you get given a key and then have to fend for yourself!! Breakfast is included at all the hotels too, and as long as you like eggs then you're all set! This place had fried rice and noodles for breakfast but it was a bit early for me to start on the fried food so I just opted for eggs with something that was supposed to be bacon (I think) but wasn't quite! Near enough though!
We spent our first day in Hanoi just wandering around, realising that there's not really that much to do here! It's fun just walking round the old quarter, taking your life in your hands every time you try to cross the road! The trick is to just walk pretty slowly and all the hundreds of thousands of motorbikes just go around you! (apparently there are 9 million people in Hanoi and about 4.5 million motorbikes - that's a lot of motorbikes to dodge as it does feel like they're all out on the road at the same time!!) It took a bit of getting used to but it didn't take long before we were crossing the road like a local! Another tourist even commented on the fact that I didn't have any fear when I crossed the road, obviously I was looking a lot more confident that I felt!!
We walked round the big lake, we visited the cathedral (not very interesting as you couldn't go in and it had a nativity scene under construction!), we found the Flag Tower (but could only admire it from outside the big wall that was build around it!) and then ended up watching some soldier people play volleyball! We then somehow found ourselves by Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum and I've no idea how this happened as I thought it was miles away but clearly my sense of direction was up the spout! Anyway, it was shut but we got some photos outside it, and whilst Mel was taking a photo of me I spotted a Vietnamese girl hanging around and I thought this could mean only one thing - she wants a photo with a blonde haired westerner, and I was right! She was pretty excited about the whole thing too which was quite funny! She held me quite tight for someone that I didn't even know (actually I don't really like to be hugged like that by people I do know!) and then a couple of other people wanted to get in the photo too so we had a mini photo shoot, much to the amusement of the guards hanging around! I'm not quite sure how this whole situation happened as I had already noticed lots of westerners everywhere and no one really stared at us like they did in China so I figured they would be used to having us here, but obviously for a couple of people it was a bit of a novelty! Not that I'm complaining, as long as my photo doesn't end up on any dodgy websites...!!
We're having a bit of trouble finding food at the moment! I'm sure there are lots of restaurants around, they just don't seem to be in the immediate area that we are in when we are starving!! The first night we ended up with Thai, which seemed a little ironic but it was excellent! On our first day out we eventually found a fish restaurant, even though Mel is a vegetarian and I don't really eat much fish! It was full of locals though and I like places like that! Although it was so full that we got put outside and they closed the door on us so we were a bit ostracised from the rest of the place! Especially as someone inside had to move every time they wanted to open the door onto the balcony so they could bring us things! But on the positive side we could overlook the street and people watch which was great! The food was really good, although when Mel ordered a vegetable dish she got bok choi and mushrooms - a staple meal that we got everywhere in China, regardless of what we ordered! We just hoped this wasn't a taster of things to come!
In the evening we consulted our bible, the Lonely Planet, and found some streets that had a few different restaurants on. Unfortunately Mel and I can't walk anywhere without getting completely lost and in the totally wrong place! So what should've been about a 10 minute walk through the old quarter turned into about an hour of walking round until we found somewhere to go! Fortunately wherever you do go the food is always great so in the end I guess it doesn't really matter!!
On our next day we went back to the Mausoleum which was open so we could see the big man himself, Ho Chi Minh (Uncle Ho to his friends). After queuing up to see Chairman Mao in Beijing we consider ourselves to be well versed in the art of pushing and shoving and queue jumping (which goes against all my principles being British as generally I love to queue!), so we were quite surprised at how civilised it all was! We handed all our bags over, lined up to go through a scanner, got my water confiscated (not quite sure what they thought I was going to do with it!) and then got marched over to the Mausoleum. It wasn't even that busy so only took maybe 15-20 mins which was quite disappointing really, I thought it was going to be a whole morning activity of jostling and taking out people that were getting in my way! There are lots of guards around and they all have rather large guns with huge knives on the end. There is also a list of things you're not allowed to do - wear a hat, put your hands in your pockets, smile, talk or laugh - so I figured if you did any of these then the punishment was obviously a quick stabbing!
We walked through the building (I had this massive compulsion to put my hands in my pockets once I realised you weren't allowed to, so in a big effort to not do this and therefore not get stabbed, I started walking around with my arms straight down like a soldier!!!) and then in one room was the big man, chilling in a glass cabinet. I read that in Oct and Nov of each year he gets taken to Russia for some general maintenance so he was in top condition when we got to see him. It's hard to comprehend that it's an actual dead person, he really just looks like a wax work.
After this bit of excitement (on the way out I got told off for talking but fortunately I didn't get stabbed so clearly they were feeling quite jovial that day!) we got to walk round the grounds and you get to see where he lived and his stables and garage (with cars!) and a house on stilts. Unfortunately we seemed to be the only people who hadn't handed in our cameras somewhere so whilst everyone else picked theirs up and started snapping away, we could only walk around and be taunted! Obviously there was a little system in place that we knew nothing about! So we went out, picked up our bags, went to another entrance and went round again! This time we handed our cameras in at the right place, queued up to see the big man again and then picked up our cameras... Then we got stopped as we had to pay to visit the grounds... Well we managed to walk through free 10 mins before, not sure how that happened but seeing as it was about $1 AUD and there was actually no other way out we had to pay up! The ironic thing is that once I had my camera there weren't that many things I really wanted to take pictures of but nevermind! I'm a tourist, I'm on holiday - I NEED my camera everywhere I go just in case the perfect photo opportunity passes me by!!!
After all this excitement we walked up to the West Lake as there was supposed to be a massive pagoda thing there so we thought we'd take a look. The MASSIVE pagoda turned out to be a tiny one, and it was under construction so we couldn't even go in!! Oh well, on a more positive note, after getting slightly lost we managed to find one of the restaurants we were looking for the previous night and had a great lunch!!
In the afternoon we had organised a cooking class. As we were the only people there though we both had to do a vegetarian course as there were no other meat lovers for me to cook with! I don't think they were that used to cooking for vegetarians as we got to choose the dishes we wanted to cook which was quite cool! After that we went for a walk to the markets and our interpreter was pointing out all sorts of wierd and wonderful things! One of the highlights was a bowl of worms which looked very appetising! We didn't buy any food there though which I thought was the whole point, we just walked round, had a look and then went back to the restaurant!
Our chef/teacher was this guy who looked like he hadn't even started shaving yet he was so young! But he seemed to know what he was doing, most of the time! We started off with rice paper rolls - he chopped up a few veggies to show us how to do it and then he gave us a piece of something and we chopped it up! He didn't speak any English so we had to use the interpreter but it worked quite well. The spring rolls were pretty easy - get some rice paper, put some noodles, tofu and veggies in and roll it up! The dipping sauce was a bit more of a challenge as he wanted to use fish sauce but Mel didn't! He then got a bit mixed up with sugar and salt and put too much salt in!! But add some chilli, garlic and lime and it seemed to do the job! We ate those straight away and they were pretty good, although ours didn't roll quite as well as his so the presentation probably wasn't as good as it could've been!
The next course was curry and stir fry vegetables. Again he cut up a piece of onion then we cut up a piece of onion in the same way! Ditto peppers/carrots/tofu and anything else that went in! Then he stuck some curry paste and spices in and just left it to cook. All seemed pretty easy really, no secret ingredients (well none he was telling us about anyway!) or anything like that, just put in shit loads of little red chillies, garlic and coriander and you're on your way!
For dessert we wanted to make the traditional dish of crepes with apples and cinnamon!! Originally the guy wanted us to make some sort of sweet potato pudding but that didn't sound very nice so we went for the yummy option!
And after all the cooking (or really the occasional bit of chopping and watching the guy cook!) we went down to the restaurant and ate all the food!! It was great!! And the crepes came out with ice cream and a bit of chocolate sauce drizzled over the top, mmmmmm!!! Lovely job! I'm not sure we really learned too much about Vietnamese cooking, other than how to make rice paper rolls, but it was good fun and I figure I can just buy a book on Vietnamese cooking and it'll tell me all I need to know...!!!
Hanlong Bay
It was about a 3.5 hour bus ride to Hanlong City, the jumping off point for trips round Hanlong Bay. We were on an organised tour but in true Heidi and Mel style we looked round the bus and decided we didn't like the look of anyone so didn't bother talking to the others! There was a particularly annoying French woman who was huge and pretty disgusting to look at, and decided the trip was predominantly about her so she needed to know everything that was going to happen over the next few days as soon as we got on the bus... Personally I'm just quite happy to be taken around and told what to do as we go but I guess everyone is different. Whilst we were hanging around waiting to get on the boat though we did actually make an effort and talk to some of the others and they were all really nice, which was a good job really seeing as we were going to be spending the next 3 days with them!
After the China boat trip down the Yangtse River we were a bit dubious as to how this situation was going to play out but as soon as we saw the boat we were pleasantly surprised! It looked to be in a good condition and it was much smaller, I think there was only room for 16 people so it was all rather nice and a little bit fancy! As soon as we got on board we had lunch served - lots of seafood which I wouldn't normally eat, but I figure I'm in a different country, I'm on a boat and I've at least got to try some different things, so I ate prawns, mussels, fish and some deep fried pork, lovely! It wasn't anything I'd order in a restaurant or cook myself but it all tasted OK, a bit fishy but that's to be expected really!
We spent the afternoon cruising round the bay, the views are just amazing - lots of small islands that are like mini mountains coming out of the water! We went for a walk through a huge cave and saw lots of stalagmites and stalactites and the cave was lit up with different coloured lights so it all looked pretty cool! After we came out of that we went kayaking which was great fun! Mel managed to get soaked but I didn't so we're not quite sure how that happened! It was a great workout too, my arms were killing me after about 2 minutes and we were out for about an hour, just cruising round the islands and trying to stay out of the way of all the big boats!! Then we had a little rest before a gourmet dinner of more fish and seafood! It was pretty cold on the boat but fortunately our cabin had air con so we cranked it up to 30 degrees so it was like a sauna and soon enough we were nice and toasty!!
The next day we cruised around a bit more, then swapped boats and cruised for a while longer! We dropped some shopping off to some people that lived in the middle of the water and then went to someone else's place where they kept lots of fish, so I guess it was a kind of fish supermarket on the water and you can go and choose what you want to eat! We had lunch after that (more fish but not from there!) and the big French woman hoovered up most of our food - she even tucked into Mel's special vegetarian food without asking, and then took off some of the herbs with her fingers from my piece of fish before handing me over the plate with my bit of fish on! Lovely!
After lunch we stopped at Monkey Island where, yes you guessed it, there were some monkeys running around! We walked down the beach and decided to follow a little trail, and after walking for about 15-20 mins we came to the end of the path and there was a monkey sitting at the end just staring at us! And that was it! I don't think any of us really expected that, it was very bizarre! We watched it for a bit to see if it did anything. It didn't. It just sat there and watched us right back so we just walked back again!
We then cruised round to another island and got on some bikes for a little adventure! These bikes had no gears and the brakes weren't really up to doing the job that they're made for, which was unfortunate as the road was quite undulating and the bikes couldn't really handle it, which made for some interesting cycling! I was trying to go up a hill and it was so hard and I was going so slow that I almost toppled over! It was great though, we cycled round the island and into a small village which just felt like it was in the middle of nowhere and it was surrounded by rice paddies and the views were just incredible. We went for a walk up to a cave which the people hid in during the Vietnam War and all the bombings so that was quite interesting to see and hear all about. Then we got to see some snake wine and a few of the guys tried it but it looked so disgusting that none of the girls could bring themselves to do it! The jar had two snakes and a bird in and was filled up with rice wine. When one of the guys drank some he looked in the cup and could see scales in there!!! Yuk! It looked horrible, especially with the bird and the feathers in there!! I can't believe people actually drink this stuff!
After that lovely experience we cycled back to the boat and sailed to Cat Ba Island where we stayed in a very fancy hotel (for my standards!) for the night! We had a great dinner aswell, they just brought us lots of different meat and fish dishes to try and they were all pretty tasty!
The last day continued the theme of cruising around, only this time it just felt more like travelling as the boat took us back to Hanlong City for lunch and then we got the bus back to Hanoi. The people at the hotel greeted us like long lost friends which was quite funny, and we just had enough time to freshen up and then we made our way to the train station for our overnight train to Hue. The hotel offered to take us to the station so we didn't get lost so we let them. It was a bit of a joke really - it was a tiny station with two platforms and one train so it wasn't exactly rocket science to work out where we had to go! After successfully negotiating Chinese train stations when no one wanted to help us we were well equipped to deal with this so I actually felt slightly embarrassed that someone showed us to our beds on the train!!! Anyway, no big deal I guess, we got there with way too much time to spare and settled ourselves in for the night...
Hue
The train ride was pretty uneventful, managed to sleep a bit and then in the morning I just stood and looked out the window for ages, chatting to a French girl that was in our compartment (who thought I had an Aussie accent!!! Oh dear, I'd better come home soon if that's the case!). I just love the scenery here, it's so green and lush and I love all the little houses and buildings that are around too.
The hotel organised a car to come and pick us up and then even though it was only about 8am they still gave us a room straight away and my bed had rose petals scattered over it which I thought was a nice touch! They had the tiniest elevator I have ever seen, it just managed to fit three of us in, and then a guy had to run up the stairs with our bags! I felt a bit sorry for him, although our bags weren't really that heavy so it could've been a lot worse for him!!
We didn't have much time in this place so had a shower and then headed out to explore. We walked over the bridge to find the Citadel and the city walls, but went the wrong way to start with as usual! Then, as we were back on track we started getting followed by a cyclo driver who was offering us a tour of the city. We eventually decided to take him up on his offer and as if by magic another one appeared so we could have one each! It was really good fun - the guys cycled us round and showed us lots of different things, including where the Americans bombed them during the war, and took some great photos for us. Their English was pretty good, and my guy was teaching me a bit of Vietnamese too so we really enjoyed it. Then they dropped us off at the Citadel and we wandered round there for a while which was quite interesting.
We weren't quite sure what was going on as I thought they were only cycling us round for an hour but then they waited for us and took us to a couple more places, including lots of tanks and they got us to climb up on them and take photos! Then they took us to the intersection towards the main town so we guessed this meant the tour was over! And then surprise surprise they tried to completely rip us off and charge us an extortionate amount of money for their services! We weren't quite sure what to do, but in the end just gave them some money and walked off! It was a bit of a shame really and put a bit of a dampner on the whole morning but I guess they're just trying to earn a living like everyone else and they did show us lots of places that we otherwise wouldn't have seen so it was definately worth doing, it just annoys me when people seem really nice and friendly and then you realise they're only doing it for the money. But I guess it's the same everywhere around the world so no big deal! I guess we had been pretty sheltered up to now and no one had tried to rip us off but I'm sure other people experience it all the time!
After this we felt like we had enough of this place so booked two tickets on the first bus out the next morning! Then we just spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around and lazing around the place! We even managed to find a vegetarian restaurant that was in the LP and the food was a bit strange but really nice!
Hoi An
We got picked up at 8am in a mini bus and then taken round the corner to a side street and just left there! There were lots of other people there too, which did give us some hope that another bus was actually going to turn up but the whole situation was a little bit odd! There was an American girl waiting too who was really annoying and wouldn't shut up, but worse than that she had the hairiest legs I have ever seen on a woman!! It was unbelievable, surely there's no excuse for that, you can buy a razor in Vietnam!!! It was one of those things that you didn't want to look at but just couldn't help staring at them, especially as she kept pulling up her trousers so you could see lots of leg!!
Eventually the bus turned up and it was a sleeper bus with mini beds for everyone instead of chairs! It was quite a good set up really, was just a shame that the trip was only going to be a few hours so we couldn't make full use of them!
We were told we were going to get to Hoi An at 10.30, which I thought seemed a bit early, and it was as we didn't turn up for another two hours after that! And you get dropped off at a hotel (not taken to our hotel like we were told!) and the people from the hotel kept hassling you to stay at their place. Fortunately we had a reservation so that got them off our backs and one of them reluctantly pointed out on a map where we were so we could find our own place!
Hoi An is such a lovely little place. It's a small town and it's just full of tailors everywhere you look! We were getting excited just walking down the main street and seeing all these shops and all the clothes hanging up! When we finally found our hotel the woman there recommended a tailor and so after having some lunch we went to find this shop so we could start shopping!!
It was all very overwhelming and the women in there are very good at their job and upselling things! We had a general idea of what we wanted but they had a few Next catalogues in there so we flicked through those aswell and picked out a few things! I ended up with a suit for work, two shirts and a winter coat. Mel ordered a suit, some work shirts and some dresses. They were trying to get me to buy some skirts as well but it took me a while to explain to them that I don't wear skirts so they left me alone after that and tried to sell me something else instead!! We got to pick out the styles, fabrics, how long we wanted the shirts, the jackets, the trousers, where we wanted the buttons, what lining we wanted, what type of pockets for the trousers, there were so many decisions!! They measured us for all our outfits and then we arranged to go back the next day to try them all on. I was a bit dubious about how they were all going to turn out but was quite excited about it all too!
After that we went to the Opticians as I decided I wanted to get some glasses made up too. They had loads of frames to choose from so I spent ages trying on all these different ones to find some that actually suited my face! Eventually I found a couple of pairs I liked so ended up just getting both! They thinned the lenses and made them scratchproof as well and both pairs cost less than half the price of one pair at home so I was quite pleased with that, and they were going to be ready the next day too! How exciting!
The next day was Christmas Day, wohoo! We woke up early, opened the presents that we'd brought with us, Mel called her family and then... that was it! Christmas over by 7am!! We hired bikes so we could cycle to the beach but as usual we went the wrong way and so ended up cycling through all these little villages and rice fields which was great! Lots of people were shouting hello and waving to us as we went by and kids were coming out of school and high fiving us as we cycled by which was really funny!! Eventually we got on the right road to the beach and went for a long walk in the sun which was really nice!
We cycled back the right way (which took a fraction of the time and passed lots of people going in the other direction - how did they know which way to go??!!) and then went to find somewhere for our big Christmas lunch! We found a great spot by the river on the first floor of a restaurant so we could overlook the road and river and do a lot of people watching! Our lunch consisted of daiquiris, rice paper rolls, deep fried aubergine, tofu and pineapple (for Mel), chicken and cashew nuts (for me) and banana pancakes for dessert! Yum!
After our big feast we then had to go and try on all our new clothes! First I picked up my glasses and they tried to fob me off with a dodgy lense but I made them change it - I couldn't actually see out of it so it wasn't going to be much use to me! We tried all our clothes on and they fit perfectly! It was excellent as they looked great! We got really excited and ended up ordering more things... Opps! But it's so cheap and such good quality it'd be rude not to really!!
In the evening we went out for something to eat and weren't allowed a table by the river, so were stuck at the back of the restaurant and then they forgot my meal so ended up waiting 40 minutes for it and Mel had already finished eating, not overly happy but when I said something they didn't appear to care! They then charged us a 10% service charge which I thought was a great idea seeing as the service was so good! So that was all a bit annoying but other than that it was a great, and very different Christmas!!
The next day we did a day trip to My Son which is where there are lots of ruins... We were picked up at 8am but then proceeded to drive round and pick everyone else up so didn't leave the town for another hour! Our guide for the day was VERY enthusiastic about everything Vietnamese as well as Michael Jackson! He kept shouting all the time, repeating himself and pulling faces! He was quite amusing but it was a bit much after a while, especially as it was all very well rehearsed and he probably says exactly the same thing every day!
The place looked huge on the map but when we got there it was actually pretty small and even though there was supposed to be three or four different areas, there was only one main area that had anything of interest... It was pretty interesting to look at and it was set in a jungle type area so it did have an overgrown look about it! The guide was supposed to give us a little chat and then leave is to look around but I think he got carried away as he was yapping on for ages and wouldn't give it a rest! I walked off in the end after I just couldn't take it anymore! It seemed that the French were blamed for most things and then he kept pointing out big craters where the Amercians bombed them during the war, so that wasn't awkward at all for all the French and American people on the trip!!
After traipsing round for a while we were taken away and put back on the bus and some of us were getting the boat back to Hoi An. We stopped in the middle of nowhere by a building site and had to walk amongst diggers etc to get to the river and onto the boat. Lunch was served which consisted of cold rice with congealed veggies and tofu. Mmmm, my favourite!! I ate it as I was starving but a lot of people didn't! After the gormet lunch we stopped off at a village on an island where they do lots of wood carvings and you could watch them making things which was quite interesting. The island got flooded in September and on one of the houses you could see how high the water had come up. The place looked almost back to normal though so they appeared to have recovered well...
Once back in Hoi An we went to get the rest of our clothes, and then had to buy a bag to put them in! We hung out at our hotel for a while, waiting for the night bus and the owner gave us some scarfs as a thank you for buying our clothes at her sister's shop (we probably spent enough in there to feed and house them for a year!) and asked me to write a good review. The way she said it though made the scarves seem like a bribe which they needn't have been as we thought the hotel was great! I figured she was like some sort of Mafia Don the way she carried herself and walked around so I readily agreed to do anything she wanted me to!! We had to wait around for ages for the bus but finally it turned up just down the road so we got on and off we went to Nha Trang! The set out of the bus was great, in that everyone had a mini bed and you could adjust the chair to sitting or lying position. The problem was that it was a bit like a dentist's chair and was a bit awkward, and coupled with a really bumpy road meant we didn't really get that much sleep...!
Nha Trang
We arrived at 6am, feeling like complete and utter shite! The hotel had offered to come and pick us up but they didn't show so we went off in search of the place. Lots of people try and get to you come to their place but as we had a reservation for somewhere else we just headed there... In retrospect I wish we had tried somewhere else! The place wasn't that bad, I have stayed in a LOT worse, but this was definately the worst hotel of the whole trip. The main issue I had was that the room didn't have any windows!! I didn't notice at first as there was a window in the corner but there was a brick wall about a foot behind it so we got no natural light! It's like a cell! Also they don't have a restaurant or anything so whilst you can order breakfast, it gets brought up to your room and we have to sit on the beds to eat it!! And it takes them a good half an hour to put together a bottle of water, a couple of rolls and some jam!
Anyway, we spent a lazy day there, recovering from the night bus and wandering around the town. We organised a trip for the next day and then went for a walk and just got massively lost and ended up miles away from where we were staying and I nearly trod on a dead rat! So after screaming like a proper girl and running away from it, we decided that was enough for one day and turned around and walked back! After that bit of excitement I got a Vietnamese massage - not sure what the difference was compared to any other massage but it was OK and then went for a little snooze - the hotel lost power so our room was pitch black, as was the staircase that we had to walk up to get to our room! It was conducive to sleep though! In the evening we tried to find a restaurant that was recommended in the LP as proceeds went to street kids but we couldn't find it so just settled for a normal one! They seated us next to a tank of fish which scared me when I turned around and was confronted by potentially people's dinner for that night, and after the waiter had stopped laughing at us he very kindly moved us somewhere that was fish free (but we had to sit next to some Aussies instead - not sure which was worse...!!!!)
The next day we went out on a boat - Mel went diving and I went snorkelling. I had my ususal panic attack whilst I had to re-train myself that it's OK to breathe whilst my face is underwater and then once I got that sorted I was good to go! The guys on the boat told me to jump in but I just laughed and then took the stairs into the water! I'm such a wuss when it comes to water activities! It was a bit cold in the water but it was good fun swimming around and looking at all the coral and fish. We went to a different spot a bit later and Mel came snorkelling too and we gave her new camera a test of it's waterproof-ness, and I'm pleased to say it did well! We got a few good snaps of the fish, and lots of photos of blurred things and bit of rock when the fish were too fast...!!
We lazed on the boat for a while after all the exhausting swimming around and I got a lovely burnt stomach as I forgot to put sunscreen on that bit! It's a big bit to forget too and was a bit sore for a few days afterwards so I learnt my lesson the hard way on that!
The next day we had organised to go on motorbikes for the day! I've never been on one before so was quite excited, and a little bit scared as well as I've seen how they drive over here!
We met our guides for the day and they both seemed like nice people! Their English was a bit limited but good enough! They brought their bikes round the front of the office, on we jumped and off we went! I didn't really like the idea of holding the guy round the waist as I didn't want to give him the wrong idea so early on in the day and I managed to find a little handle thing under the seat so just held onto that! Fortunately he drove very carefully and not too fast so soon enough I wasn't holding on at all!!
We stopped off at lots of little places and they were really good at explainig what was going on and they kept taking our cameras so they could take lots of photos of us! We stopped at a fishing village, a lobster farm, a place where they turn lobster shells into tourist tat!, some rice paddies, someone's house where they carve tables and huge statues out of wood and then we had a stop where we walked up to this great little waterfall! At first I wasn't sure about going in as it wasn't that warm, but after the walk up to it and scrambling over lots of rocks I was ready for a dip in the water! There was only 3 other people there and then they left so we had the whole place to ourselves! It was so nice!
After that we rode around for a while longer and then took us for lunch in a little restaurant by a river and we were the only women and non locals there! I had noodles with shrimps and veggies (like everyone else there!) and it tasted so good! It was really nice to go somewhere that locals eat and not go to tourist places all the time! Then we went for a wander along a very dilapadated bridge and managed to walk across it and back without it collapsing which was lucky! We visited a family that makes a living from weaving mats and we had a go at it! There were two sisters doing it and they didn't speak any English but kept laughing at our poor efforts! It was great fun though, and the guys told us all about the family which was quite interesting - there were three generations of the same family living in one house. After that we went to a mud bath thing which was a bit of an odd experience - we sat in mud for a while and then a few different spa things. Not sure if it really did anything but it was a pleasant way to spend a couple of hours!! After that we headed back to Nha Trang.
It was such a nice day. The guys were really friendly and funny and tried so hard to make it a really good day, which it was! After the whole cyclo debacle in Hue I was a bit wary that they were being so nice as they wanted a tip but I don't think they did expect one, although we did buy them lunch but we were happy to do that... It was probably the highlight of the whole trip - we saw and did so much and had a great time cruising around on the bikes too!!
Ho Chi Minh City
Another night bus later and we arrived in HCMC at 5.30am! And typically it was the first time we couldn't check in early so had to kill time until 9am! We sat in the park for a while and watched people play badminton and do aerobics (who does that so early in the morning, other than me when I did a boxing class at 5.30am for a while, but soon gave it up as it killed me!), and then went for a walk, trying a) not to get killed by the millions of people on motorbikes and b) to find somewhere that was open for breakfast! Managed to accomplish both, although it was the first time Mel had issues with being a vegetarian - we consulted the LP to find the Vietnamese for 'I'm a vegetarian', the girl nodded and then pointed to a spagetti carbonara that has, um, bacon or ham in it!!! And why would anyone want that for breakfast anyway?!! Well we managed to sort it out anyway so everyone was happy!
We finally checked into the hotel which was great, although our room was on the fifth floor and there were no lifts! It kept us fit though! We headed out for lunch to a restaurant that the girl in the hotel had recommended. I decided to try something a bit different instead of eating the same thing all the time - I chose dumplings and a few other things I wanted to try for a starter, only when it came out it looked nothing like what I had ordered. I still have no idea if it was or not! One of them was this hard jelly thing with what I'm guessing with pork inside. I tried to eat one and it was making me gag but I didn't really feel I could spit it out so I kept chewing but that wasn't really doing anything so in the end I just had to swallow it! It was pretty horrible and I felt like I could taste it for the rest of the day!! The main course was slightly better but not great either - bits of pork that had fat and other nasty bits in it that you made rice paper rolls with, along with some salad stuff to put in it! It wasn't the best meal that I had but it's always good to try something different!
After that we went and checked out Independence Palace - it's a bit stuck in 1975 from the South Vietnamese government. It's quite a bizarre place really, there's lots of reception rooms, I can't imagine why you would need so many! The decor was very special too, although I guess it fitted in well 35 years ago!!
In the evening we went to a water puppet show! It's just the thing to do when you're in Vietnam! It's one of the strangest things I have ever seen! There were people at either side of the stage singing and playing musical instruments and then in the middle is a big tank of water and all these different puppets run around! I think there's some sort of story but as it was in Vietnamese I have no idea what it was all about! It was just really funny to watch, although I'm not sure that that's the idea! At the end all the puppeteers come out to take a bow and they're fully dressed - if you're going to get soaking wet why don't you just wear a pair of shorts or something?!!
The next day we went to the Cu Chi Tunnels, which were really interesting but yet again we had the most over enthusiastic guide whose name, ironically was Ms Quiet!! I wish! There were so many people there and too many people in our group so we were just being herded round like sheep and everyone getting in everyone else's way which got quite annoying. We got to see lots of tunnels and all the tactics they used to stop the Americans - they were all quite brutal though, and lots of them involved spears and stakes, which I imagine wouldn't be a particularly nice way to die... But every man for himself though I guess... The best thing was that we got to shoot an AK47, yeah!!! There was a shooting range there and you could choose from a few differen types of guns and then just buy the bullets!! The lack of safety equipment and regulations was just amazing! We had to queue up for ages to buy the bullets and we were standing right next to the shooting range so it was pretty loud! Then once we had bought the bullets some guy that doesn't speak any English takes you down to the range and gives you a completely ineffective pair of ear protectors! Then he loads the gun, shows you where to put your hands and off you go! The first time was a bit of a shock as the kick back is quite big and went straight into my shoulder! But after that I got used to it and it was quite good fun! One of the empty pellets flew out and hit Mel on the head but there was no blood so she was OK!
We also went into one of the tunnels which wasn't really very nice. I can't imagine how people hid and lived in these tunnels for so long. They're really short and narrow and dark and really hot, we were only down there for a couple of minutes and started sweating! And then after that we got herded back on the bus and driven back to HCMC, without lunch as people were moaning that we'd taken too long already!
In the afternoon Mel had her sunglasses stolen so after a very long trip to the police station we went out to celebrate the New Year! We went out for a really nice dinner, with cocktails, and then headed to a bar. It was heaving in there, and enough people started dancing so that we created our own dance floor and eventually they cleared some tables and chairs so we could bop away without causing any damage!! The music was great for ages and then it suddenly turned a bit wierd so we left and went for a walk in the park where there was lots going on, and then ended up in another bar, and toasted the new year in with strawberry daiquiris!!! All very nice! But then we had to get up at 6.30am so didn't stay out too late!
The next day was a day trip on the Mekong Delta. We were up early which we weren't used to so as we had a three hour cruise along the river I took the opportunity to have a little snooze! We visited a few different islands and the tour guide was like a little Hitler, frog marching us around, telling us not to stop and look at anything but to just follow him! We had some tropical fruit, watched some people sing and play some music, saw some honey bees, and then tasted the honey (including honey tea and rice wine!), on Unicorn Island and saw people making coconut sweets, which were REALLY nice on Coconut Island! We got in little boats that the locals rowed on a narrow river. It was really cool but as all the other people in boats went past they were whispering "Hello, tip money" like they were trying to tap into your sub conscience and make you tip the people rowing... It was very wierd. At the end when you get off the boat they wait for you to tip them so you don't really have any choice, although some people just ignored them and I felt a bit sorry for those people that didn't get any tips when most of the others did...
Lunch was pretty bad - cold and tasteless. We then had to hook up with another tour group to get us back to HCMC, which meant that we had two hours to kill on an island that had nothing to do. We just walked for ages until we realised it probably didn't go round in a loop and then had to walk all the way back again!! There wasn't really anything to see though and the island just looked the same as a lot of other villages that we'd seen! And then it was just a complete farce to try and get home - there were so many people wanting to get back that they didn't have enough boats so we had to wait for more to turn up, then we lost someone so spent ages looking for them, only to find that they weren't going back and had decided to stay on! The boat that we did finally get was the slowest one I have ever been on and just took forever to go such a short distance! Then we were getting the bus back to HCMH but they didn't have enough of those either so we had to wait for some more to turn up!!! It was a nightmare! But we made it back in the end!!
Our last day in Vietnam!! We're so sad to leave as I've had such an amazing time here. We've managed to fit in so many things and we've done so many different things too, it's just been fantastic! We went to the War Remnants museum which was possibly one of the worst things to do as it was so depressing - there were some really graphic pictures and stories of what had happened to families and people in different villages, it was really sad. There was also a picture of lots of deformed foetuses in jars which was horrible, and lots of pictures of deformed children due to the effect of Agent Orange. I also went into the torture area, which was very graphic in describing all the torturing that went on in the prisons and detention camps, it was just awful.
We weren't quite sure what to do after that, other than slit our wrists!, so decided to go for lunch... We've come full circle - on our last day, after having seen so many restaurants everywhere you go, we end up in an area where we couldn't find a single one that was open... So we end up in the Thai Express, just like our first night!
And after that, we wandered around some art shops as we loved the paintings over here and wanted to get one, then we had a quick pedicure and finally we were off to the airport and back home to Melbourne...
