It has been a long old month since my last blog...the honeymoon period of travelling has lapsed and the stresses of travelling have begun...as glorious as it sounds travelling the world, nothing in life is ever as easy as one may think & the grass always appears greener no matter who you are.
We finally managed to do the river cruise down to Yangshuo, which was breath taking even though the heavy flooding made it more like a rafting trip than a cruise. The heavy rains had churned up the river bed making the river murky and a light brown colour.
Please skip the next chapter if you want to retain the happy thoughts of travelling.
In Yangshou I finally bit the bullet and graciously ended the so called "relationship" with my travel companion. Not one to slate people yet certainly realistic enough to acknowledge the truth...we were utterly not suited. I believe in the forgive and forget approach and even remaining friends as that is how we departed and had been for the last few weeks. I do however find it difficult to conquer the moral high ground when the dumped party go out of their way to harass me and veil the truth from family and friends in order to draw desperately needed attention to themselves from their unsuspecting victims. And indeed who isn't going to believe a lonely helpless girl who has been dumped in the middle of nowhere by her selfish boyfriend? The truth always prevails and although there are always two sides to every story I think the facts speak volumes. To invite someone to travel the world with you is a big step and even to invite a near enough stranger to your family's homes over Christmas is a great step in itself. Not to mention buying them bags of travel equipment, paying for their vaccinations, giving them your oyster card & inviting them to live in your home rent free all so they can save for the trip. The repayment was probably not foreseen on my behalf; waiting months before telling people we were in a relationship, still in contact with her former boyfriends & numerous lovers, all of which were blinded to her newly trapped love. If continuous lies were not enough acting like a teenager & slouching around the world not lifting a finger, acting unexplainably selfish & completely forgetting her partners birthday sure were. Yet what did I expect from a reformed druggy who had spent every week for the past 8 years taking class A drugs? Hijacking my face book so they could look at my pictures, then get utterly jealous and commenting on my new found female travel friends is pretty childish. Especially when the said party is sleeping their way through SE Asia. I could continue for many hours yet I think enough has been said so no more questions please...
In Yangshuo I managed to ride a bike through some of the most breath taking scenery & unspoilt villages as well as climb through one of the many water caves. A highly unprofessional encounter yet great fun. From here I went on to Kunming in Yunnan province undoubtedly the highlight of China (Yunnan not Kunming). One night in Kunming was enough before going to Dali, a gorgeous historic walled town by a massive lake & engulfed by 4000m plus peaks. As of most of SW China the streets were scattered with fresh flowers & scrumptious street food. For peace and quiet I ventured up into the mountains & stayed at the Highland Guest House (2600m), a beautiful isolated tiny place in the mountains. Due to no villages or inhabitants in the mountains it felt much more isolated than my time in the Himalayas. The only inhabitants was the guesthouse owner, two girls who worked there & temporarily an American guy, Chester, who was working there for a while. Oh & not to mention the two crazy dogs and cat who loved to fight. It was so relaxing and even walking the following day I got off the main path, Cloud Pass, and didn't see a sole all day just the sound of the waterfalls.
I returned to Dali to hear two lots of bad news, the death of a good friend and fellow Intelligence Corps soldier and also the failure of my dissertation. The first news was such a shock and I managed to pay tribute to Sarah in a local temple. As for the other news, it was opptimistic to attempt such a large dissertation during the difficult times I experienced at the start of the year with so much going on. I ignored my tuitor's advice and slaved on. It just means I will need to resubmit on my return, if I do return of course.
From the minute I became a lone trevller I met the nicest people in a place not really abundant with tourists. But every day there always seemed to be someone new to brighten up my trip with some little adventure. Infact in the last month I have never been so unalone as before. Travelling is so easy nowadays and it really is much more fun travelling by yourself. Anyone dreaming of venturing out in to the big bad world should definately do it alone.
I travelled to Vietnam by sleeper bus from Kunming to Hekou where I crossed the border in to Vietnam. That bus was an experience and a half, the smells and noises alone made it. Across the border my first stop was the mountain town of Sapa, where the locals could never stop smiling. Admittedly they follow you every step on the viallge tours across the countryside but you can't help but buy things off them. They are ever so persistent yet so adorably cute, the girls that is.
One night in the mountains was enough before Hanoi. Hanoi is actually a suprise, a sleepy large town if there ever was one. The two night boat trip to Halong Bay and Cat Ba Island was enjoyable as it could have been since the place is packed with tourists. The bay was spetatcular with 1000's of amazing peaks jutting out of the still clear blue water. The night aboard the boat was actually the first time on the whole trip that I came close to utterly intoxicated...ok I was. It was a great laugh and fortunate that we were all stuck with 10 single youngsters. The Island wasn't as fun but I ended up celebrating Rachel's birthday (one of two Norweigan girls I had met in Hanoi) with a bunch of guys. On return to Hanoi I headed straight to Hue, an ancient walled town with loads of character. I visited the DMZ (site of the famous Vietnam war where the borders of north and south met) with a group of 3 lovely copuples. The DMZ was slightly disappointing yet it was great to see the place especially the tunnels.
The following day the Norweigan girls headed down and the late nights started and continued for the next 10 days. We headed to the colonial town of Hoi An, famous for its numerous dress makers who are renowned for tailoring any item of clothing you desire. I did manage to refrain myself. I think the fact I was 85kgs at the start of the year and then only 70kgs while in Hanoi helped. No doubt this was thanks to the culinary delights of India. It would have been foolish to follow suit (no pun intended) and spend 100's on tailored suits. Hoi An is a beautiful place and a complete suprise for Vietnam, a must on anyones trip here. The restaurants were amazing and the town was so tranquil you could have been in a village in the south of France. Nha Trang, the following destination was not so tranquil. I ended up spending 6 tedious nights here waiting firstly for my visa renewel (I had overrun in both Nepal and China) secondly for my police report as I was mugged by 6 transvestites on my first night here. I met a great couple of Aussie guys on the bus here and along with the Norweigan girls we had a good little team together. The first day was spent on the seemingly nice beach in the blazing sun, jet skiing and relaxing. We met 4 more Norweigan girls and all ventured out for fun and frollocks to the Sailing Club, which by midnight is not as classy as it sounds. It is a nice place and one night here would have left us with good memories of a crazy time. It's perched across the sand and up to the ocean, which we later ended up in. I stupidly ventured away from our drinking group on the way home and was jumped by 6 transvestites othering me favours of a vile nature. It was only on their swift departure I realise they had robbed me of my camera. The following day I reported the incident to the police, for what ever that was worth. I decided to treat myself to a new camera but upon opening my travel wallet, which was secured in the safe I found $20 missing. This led to a full out argument with the receptionist. As the situation heightened my language dropped to that of an infanteer in the heat of battle, forcing the terrofied 4 foot nothing young girl in to a dribbling pool of tears. Angered I ventured to an electronics shop where I found a great waterproof camera. Slightly cheered up I handed over my credit card and later bank card only to watch the ill trained staff swipe my cards 8 times. They clearly aren't use to technology and hadn't fed the receipt paper through. By this point I was near erupting on a scale not too disimilar from Mount Vesuvius. I phoned my bank on my mobile to find out I had been charged over $2500 for a single camera. So at this point I had lost one camera, been robbed $20 from the hotel safe, been charged $2500 for a $430 camera and now faced an extoitionate bill for my mobile. Eventually when all seems lost you just have to laugh. If Jimmy and Rach hadn't been there I would be doing life time in a seedy Vietnamese jail.
I spent the next few nights (along with the growing group of 15) drowning my sorrows and it wasn't until we got the gondalla over to Vin Pearl where we found a theme and water park that I started to cheer up. What a park though. This place had the best water rides I had been on. It seemed a pretty new place hence why it wasn't in Lonely Planet (the Bible) and why it was so dead. After 6 nights in Nha Trang I was grateful to reach the laid back surfing (board, wind and kite) town of Mui Ne. This is much more mellow and I really wished I had arrived here instead of Nha Trang and learnt to kite board.
Onward and upward...surely now my SE Asia experience can only get better.
