Every day that goes by means I have more and more to write in my blog, so i'm still not up to date, but here is the next installment!
Nicky, Ben and I met our new group at our hotel at 6pm on Sunday 9th. They were very differrent from our last group. Everyone was Australian and it was mainly older couples, apart from 2 Australian grils in their mid-twenties. They were all nice though and our new leader, Vu, was nice - very energetic and spoke really good English. We went to a traditional Vietnamese restaurant for our first group meal. The menu was huge and had things like Frog, Porcupine and a local delicacy - Goats Prick (which was how it was written on the menu!) I wasn't brave enough to try anything to extravigant and stuck to grilled wild bore and rice. We were up early the next day to vsit the Cuchi tunnels, just outside Ho Chi Minh City. These were amazing - a whole network of tiny tunnels that the Vietnamese used to escape the Americans. We went down one of them and had to shuffle along bent in half. I could only manage 30metres before I got claustraphobic and had to get out and these had been made bigger so westerners could get down them! After lunch we visited the War Remenants museum back in the city. It was full of photo's taken during the vietnamese war, some of them really gruesome. It showed how the war has affected and is still affecting generations of people, due to the "Agent Orange" gas and the landmines still littering the countryside. It was pretty horrible to see. Wars are just unbelieveably disturbing - especially when you see pictures of little children in pieces on the floor. They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Innocent, but never got to grow up. We then had a cyclo tour of the city, which was a nice more relaxed way to see the sights. On Tuesday 11th we went to the local airport and caught a plane to Da Nang and drove to Hoi An. After being in the crazy busy streets of Ho Chi Minh city, Hoi An was a nice relief. Quiet, quaint and relaxed. It has a big french influence and there are delicious looking patisseries dotted about. The main trade here is the Tailors - there are absolutely hundreds of them. Suits, dresses, shoes, bags, anything. If i had more money, i probably would have got something made because some of the girls came away with some beautiful dresses and skirts, but i managed to resist! The following day was a free day in Hoi An, so Ben Nicky and I hired oush bikes to cycle to the beach. It occured to me as i clambered onto this thing that I hadn't riden a bike for many years and I suddenly felt slightly concerned. After a shaky start I soon got the hang of it and thouroughly enjoyed my leisurely cycle to the beach. The beach was absolutely beautiful - Nicky said it was just like the Carribean. We got sunloungers and an umbrella and sunbathed and swam in the sea until it clouded over and we had to make a break for the hotel before the rain set in. Which it did, just as we handed our bikes back. The storm was right over us and as I ran outside to buy a bottle of water from the little stall a bolt of lightning struck the roof that I was sheltering under and scared the living daylights out of me! That evening we went to a Vienamese cooking class. It was so much fun and made me remember how much I enjoy cooking - especially when there is someone telling you how to make a delicious dinner! After the inital shock of having a whole fish - eyes and all - placed infront of me, we made Fish stuffed with lemongrass, garlic , spring onion and ginger (Muz, you would have loved it), vegetable spring rolls, sweet and sour sauce - which we had with wontons and squid with Lemongrass and chilli. It all tasted amazing - even if I do say so myself! The following day we caught the bus to Hue, stopping off at various points of Photographic interest along the way. We arrived at our hotel, dropped our bags at the hotel and caught taxi's to the Citidel. Hue was the "Royal City" of Vietnam and many of the kings resided at the Citidel. It was absolutely huge, like a miniture city. Although unfortunately a lot of it had been demolished by the Americans during the war. If it hadn't had been pouring with rain, it would have been a beautiful place to wander leisurely around. On Friday 14th we were up early to go on a boat ride down The Perfume River (so called because of a flower that grows at the source of the river and when it's in bloom, it's scent carries up the river) After getting off of our Dragon Boat (not the kind you row!) we all hopped onto scooters to go on a Scooter tour of the city and countryside. We saw the Kings tomb, a little village where they make and sell incense sticks (something you never really think about, but it's amazing), and drove up a big hill where we got an amazing view of the river. We stopped at a Pagoda in the country where Monks laid on a huge spread for us for lunch and then set of again for a long drive in the beautiful countryside. Some of the villages we passed through were tiny and the people there lived on practically nothing. They get around on pushbikes and use them like we use our cars. The things you see people carrying on tiny, thin framed bicycles is incredible. I saw one man carrying huge bungdles of Bamboo on his bike, which stuck out a couple of metres either side of him and another guy carrying a massive paine of glass on his cyclo. We stopped off in a little village where there was a Farming Museum and a crazy 76yr old lady who worked there who provided us with some entertainment showing us how the old farming tools worked and singing as she did it. After our scooter tour it was time to head to the train station to get our overnight train to Hanoi. I didn't really know what to expect of the train, i wasn't expecting the orient express but was dubious about how good it would actually be. When we boarded the train the first thing I saw was that someone had been sick in the bathroom and it was still there. So that kind of set the standard. The cabins were small and felt dirty and the sheets on the beds weren't clean. We all sat there in silence for a while, contemplating how we were going to spend the next 12hours on the train. However, onve we got over the shock and realised that we were just going to have to embrace the experience, we relaxed a bit and all crammed into one cabin for a few drinks and a giggle. I actually managed to get a few hours kip too, which suprised me. We finally arrived in Hanoi at 5:30am and went to our hotel for a rest until 8am. We went out for breakfast at a restaurant called KOTO, a place aimed at helping street children gain new skills. There are thousands of street children in Vietnam and many of them go to Hanoi as they think they will be able to find a job more easily there. But with no skills, they just end up on the street again. It's so sad, but it makes going to a place like KOTO a really good experience. The kids there talk about how much the restaurant has helped them and how much they enjoy it...snd the food was delicious! After breakfast we had a free day to explore Hanoi. In the old quarter there are lots of market stalls and little shops. One street will have stalls and shops which all sell the same products. There is a T-shirt street, a sunglasses street, a bag street, shoes street etc etc. It makes you wonder how these places survive with all that competition. Ben, Nicky and I had a wander round here in the morning and in the afternoon went to visit a prison nicknamed the "Hanoi Hilton". It was used when the French were in power for Vietnamese prisoners and then again during the vietnamese war for American soldiers that were captured. It was only small but really interesting to see. There was a picture of John McCain - the guy who ran for American President....was his name John McCain??. His plane was shot down in the war and he was captured by the Vietnamese. On Sunday 16th we had a 4 hour bus journey to Halong Bay. We arrived just before lunch and boarded our Hotel boat. We had our own private boat with our own personal crew to serve us, nice little cabins and a deck where we could sit and watch Halong bay float by. As we set off we were served a delicious seafood lunch and were then able to sit and take in the scenary. It was beautiful and looked just like it did on the Top Gear special, but better! There are floating villages where people live and catch fish to send back to the mainland and huge, steep islands sticking out the sea every so often. We got off the boat to have a look around these huge caves, with some pretty impressive stalagmites and stalagtites! It made me think of Chedder Gorge with Gran and Grandpa, but much hotter!! We also hired out Kayacks and went paddling round a small bay where we had mored for the night. The water was suprisingly warm and pretty salty, but it was nice to jump off the boat and have a swim. We were only on the boat for the night, so sailed back to shore after breakfast the following morning and then it was back to Hanoi where we had a free afternoon before our "Farewell Dinner". Sitting having an icecream in a little cafe on the edge of the lake in Hanoi, I looked up to see a guy who i had been at Twin House with walking in the door. It was so strange to be in such a huge city and to be in the same icecream cafe. It was nice to see him anyway and we're going to be in Australia at the same time too, so maybe i'll see him again! So the farewell dinner that evening concluded my tour of Cambdia and Vietnam. I was really pleased I did it and have had a bit of luxury for 18days (staying in places with hot water and en-suite bathrooms and clean sheets and no lizards on the walls.) I have met some lovely people who can now show me the sights of Sydney and Melbourne and the Gold Coast, when i'm there.
