Apr 2006

After spending a couple of days in Hue, we caught a bus that took us to Hoi An, which is UNESCO listed. To describe Hoi An, I would say it is most like Pingyao (read my first blog posting for details about that , except rather than being Chinese it is obviously Vietnamese (as we are in Vietnam at the moment).

We arrived at a slightly more expensive than normal hotel ($12 a night instead of $9) and checked ourselves in. This extra $3 allowed us access to a nice swimming pool - something that Heather was keen to take advantage of. The rest of the hotel was nice and comfortable as well, which is never a bad thing.

After checking in, we wandered in to town and bought a ticket that allowed us entry in to up to 5 museums/old houses/temples. We started with a craft museum, where locals made and sold souvenirs (Heather was getting the shopping urge). However, as part of this, a troupe of local musicians performed traditional Hoi An songs for us. It was nice, and markedly different to the Northern Chinese traditional singing that we had experienced in China.

Following this we visited a couple of museums and an old, which is still used as a residency. The guide in the house explained that during the flood season (July to December I think), the waters rise so high that the entire ground floor has to be cleared out and everything moved in to the top floor. I can't imagine what that does for the insurance premiums.

We also visited a Japanese bridge that connects two parts of the town together. It was built in the 16th Century or so and has the distinguishing feature of a small Buddhist temple on the side of it. Following an explore of the town, we stopped off at a restaurant alongside the river and watched the sun go down before heading back to our hotel.

In the morning, we didn't have too long to wait for our bus back to Hue, so we went and lazed by the pool. It was only when we had about 15 minutes before the bus was due to arrive was I able to convince Heather that it was time to get ready.

After the bus ride, and another night in Hue, we caught a flight to the Vietnam capital of Hanoi.

On arrival at Hanoi, we grabbed a taxi to the old quarter where we staying. Before arriving at Hanoi, we had spoken to a young couple from Melbourne who told us to avoid the quarter as they had stayed there and hated it. Hmm, not sure how this was going to go...

Things didn't start to well, when they confused me with someone else who had the same first name but a different surname. They kept saying "where are you friends?" and "you are early". It turns out the other person had booked for 7 people on the night that we were due to leave. It also turns out that there room for us, however they had a sister hotel that was a couple of hundred yards down the road, so were able to fit us in there. It was a slightly frustrating time and left us feeling wary about what we had booked.

Once checked in, and had a much needed shower, we went for a walk in to town to book an overnight stay in Ha Long bay We have been reading the 'Lonely Planet South East Asia on a Shoestring' religiously for the last couple of months, and it had identified a reliable agent that we could book with. We found them, paid a slightly higher than normal price and was assured that the boat would have electric fans and air conditioning should we need it.

We continued to wander around the town, visiting the markets on the way and making some necessary purchases: a new pair of reef sandals each - ten dorrar and an England football t-shit - also ten dorrar but I don't think it's an official one at that price

We spent the two days we were in Hanoi wandering around the old quarter and came to the conclusion that it was a wonderful place. You needed to be careful crossing the road so that you weren't taken out by a scooter, but that is par for the course in Vietnam and indeed South East Asia.

Next stop Ha Long Bay.

The day had come for our trip to Halong. We dragged ourselves out of bed at 6am and wandered down stairs with our backpacks. The main backpacks were going to be stored in the hotel and the day sacks had overnight things in them. We also had a fresh disposable camera and the video camera ready for recording the sights of Halong Bay.

Halong Bay is another UNESCO World Heritage site, which contains a couple of thousand tiny islands and makes up a beautiful landscape. It was probably going to be the highlight (in landscape terms) of our Vietnam trip. Sitting on the bus on the way to the port where we were going to pick up the boat, Heather and Ihad the following exchange:
"Where's the video camera?"
"In your backpack"
"No, there's no space for it, I had to wear it. I took it off when I went to check my emails"
It dawned on us that wherever it was, it certainly wasn't on our person nor on the bus. Using my mobile, I tried making a number of frantic phone calls (including bugging my mate Mike in Australia), in a desperate attempt to get the hotel's contact details (we had been moved and the details we had were for the old one, which were wrong anyway). We went as far as roping in the help of tour guide - eventually we just had to write it off, hoping that the insurance would cover it.

We arrived on the boat and started the trip in to the bay of Halong. The landscape was truly beautiful, the waters were clear and sun was beating down. It was just a pity that the only means of recording it was a useless disposable camera!

While on the boat, we did meet a number of other couples whom we were able to strike up conversations with. One couple from Melbourne who were on honeymoon, took pity on our plight and videoed some footage of us and have promised to email it to us. There are nice people everywhere

At one point, the boat stopped and allowed us to either swim in the bay or rent a canoe for $2 and canoe around some of it. Being the cheapskates that we are, we took the swimming option - although we were a little too close to a floating village for my liking and there seemed to be an awful lot on the surface. We made sure to swim with our mouths shut!

At night, the boat moored up again and served us dinner. After, that it was lying under the stars (or at least it would have been had it not been for the clouds), drinking the booze we had smuggled on board (rather than having to pay on board prices). When it came time to turn in, it transpired that not only did we not have air conditioning, the electricity was turned off so the fan couldn't be used - that bloody tour agent lied to us!

In an attempt to keep cool, we slept with the window open but that exposed us to mosquitoes. As always, Heather avoided being bitten whereas my legs was an attractive shade of red and covered in bumps. Fortunately, malaria carrying mozzies don't hang out in the sea.

The following day it was a slow cruise back to port, and a bus ride back to the hotel.

Once back in Hanoi, we did some further investigation and found that one of the receptionists had found our video camera and locked it in the safe. When she gave it to us, she said "you owe me thousand dollars" and burst out laughing. Then, whenever we saw her she said "you still owe me thousand dollars". It became a running joke between us for the last couple of days that we were in Hanoi.

We decided to visit the Temple of Literature, which is just outside the old quarter, and after consulting the map, we figured we could walk it. It was a very distressing experience for me, as I found a street with a number of stores selling cheap PC hardware and software, and I didn't have the time to browse. I tried to convince Heather that the street would be more interesting than the temple, but it would not wash.

We arrived at the temple and wandered around it for about an hour and a half. It was built around 1070 and had been used throughout earlier times as university. At the time, they were preparing for an event to be held there that night but we still managed to see all of it. It was a very peaceful place in the centre of Hanoi. After finishing up there, we decided to get a taxi back to the hotel as walking was a stupid idea in the first place.

We have been travelling since February now, and poor Heather has not been able to buy any souvenirs. Hanoi was her chance to rectify this, so we spent the better part of a day wandering around the old quarter sizing up what to buy. In the end we settled on a Chinese lantern (very common in Vietnam), a set of bowls (for practicing our new Thai cullinary skills in) and some chopsticks & holders. Heather seemed to enjoy the haggling more than me, so I left her to it.

The final acivity in Hanoi, was to visit the Water Puppet theatre. This was created in ancient times by farmers during the floods to keep the locals entertained. It was very entertaining, and I was annoyed at myself for not bringing along the video camera. The show was split in to a number of smaller parts such as "a student returns from studying in the city" and uses limited pyrotechnics and lighting effects to add to the atmosphere. Stories were told in each segment, although being in Vietnamese, I wasn't 100% sure what was being said. I certainly didn't hear any "flobbalobbalob"

Finally, it was back on a plane and off to Hong Kong. Time for me to do some retail therapy.

Before arriving there, Vietnam was a bit of an unknown for us. We only knew a couple of people that had been there, so we didn't know what to expect.

Having experienced it, Vietnam is probably the nicest place that we have visited so far in South East Asia. The towns offer so much for the tourist, the surrounding landscapes are beautiful - the bus ride from Dalat to Nha Trang was just amazing, and neither words nor pictures could ever do it justice. Finally, the people almost without exception are wonderful and friendly. The only place where there was a degree of antipathy was Hue, but given that just 35 years ago the entire area was in a very dreadful war subject to repeated bombings and artillery strikes, it is not that suprising.

Without reservation, I would recommend a holiday to Vietnam to anyone. I would hesitate to recommend the Vietnam section in Lonely Planet's South East Asia on a Shoestring, unless you are into playing pool at bars, eating pizza or vegetarian food only. To be frank, it was about as much use as a chocolate teapot