James & Heather Travelogues

Unbeknownst to a large number of people, Hong Kong actually consists of a number of islands of varying sizes, most of which are connected with bridges spanning the harbour. One of these is Lantau island, which contains a 3km beach and is actually the island that the new airport is based on (in reality, the local authorities built an artificial island attached to Lantau). It also contains (I believe) the largest bronze buddha in South East Asia.

On the day that we decided to go to Lantau (via ferry) the fog had become worse. When we hiked up the side of the hill, all we could see of the buddha was a ghostly white smear. Any photos we took came out looking as if it was a picture of a polar bear sneaking up on an albino penguin in the middle of the Antartic.

As such, Lantau was a bit of a bust...

After Hong Kong, we flew directly to Shanghai arriving there on 2 May.

Unfortunately, when planning our holiday we didn't bother to research public holidays and it turns out that May Day is a public holiday in China that that lasts all week. As such, Shanghai was teeming with local tourists that had travelled in to the big city for what is known as Golden week. The population had swelled (according to the only English language TV channel in China - CCTV9) by an additional 7million people, and all of them seemed intent on getting in my way...

Our activities in Shanghai were therefore quite limited to catching up with a friend of Heather's from University and only checking out a couple of tourist destinations. One was a temple that was built in the Qing (pronounced Ching) dynasty and is just about the only surviving one in Shanghai as everything else has been pulled down to make way for skyscrapers and checking out a bank along the Bund.

Now, it may seem bizarre to have a bank as tourist destination but it is actually a bank from Colonial times and is therefore oppulently decorated. The rules stated that no photos could be taken, and I was going to be a rebel and take one anyway. One look at the security gaurds with their assorted armoury and with faces that made them look sadistic put any ideas like that out of my head pretty damn quick I can tell you.

We only stopped in Shanghai for a couple of days, so really there is nothing much else to tell (also my memory has faded).

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.