Right. It is very hot outside and the only place I wanna be is by a fan in the shade (this may sound odd to some of you who have been waiting many months for sun!) So I find myself with some time for a blog.
We started our first two weeks in Vietnam with Rhett who flew for Melbourne to meet us. He had been feeling the cold in Melbourne so decided to come and get sweaty in Vietnam. We all really liked Hanoi and ate some good food and were loving the Bia hoi (Cheapest home brew beer. Very good and only 10pence a glass)
We walked alot, got lost in the myriad of streets and had a hilarious time trying to cross the road. The rules are fairly simple, just close your eyes and walk! By some miracle the 50 motorbikes heading your way merge around you like a school of fish. The motorcycles (and drivers of them) provide tonnes of entertainment. Whereas in Nepal you see people carryong unbelievable things on their backs- in Vietnam they can transport just about anything on bike, including families of 5, pigs, furniture, chickens, glass cabinets, mirrors and paintings (toname a few) Will work on getting a collection of photos together.
From the photos you will see that we visited two places in the North. The hill region of Sapa, where we did a homestay and trekking with the local ethnic minority people (amazing women, so friendly, funny and genuine. Men were no-where to be seen) and Halong Bay, a World Heritage Site with amazing limestone rock formations (over 2000) in the Gulf of Tonkin.
Vietnam is King of the package tour and so far we have had to use tours a few times to see the things that we want to see. They have been at times painful but mostly hilarious. The general approach is to cram as much as possible into a very short time span and smile.
"OK everyone, my name is Phoung but you can call me Rooster. Here is the itinerary today. First we go to boat. 12 o'clock you have lunch, 1:30pm you go visit cave, 14:30 come back boat and check into room -then go kayaking- one hour, then swimming. OK, then you have free time, one hour, then you have dinner. Then you can have karaoke before going to bed. Wake up 7am have breakfast then check out of room 8am"
The very sweet Virtnamese seem oblivious to the fact that the reason people visit this place is to see the amazing landscape from the deck of a boat. Just leave us on the boat with nothing to do and we will be very happy indeed. Please don't make us go to a cave that was once naturally beautiful- BEFORE you added the coloured flourescent tubes, penguin shaped rubbish bins and water fountains (really) So you see, sometimes you must laugh or you will cry.
The highlight for Will and I here is the people. They are always smiling and friendly. Even though most are usually trying to sell you something, it is with good humour and a smile. In Sapa, the ladies were just so charming that I relented and bought stuff I really didn't want. After 3 and a half months of perfecting my rebutals these ladies took me by suprise with their selling methods. And then, after you have finally given in and bought....they try and sell you more. If you tell the next lady that you have already bought she says "you buy from her and not me"? Never-ending but very funny too.
Another thing that keeps us laughing on our travels is the number of unauthorised celebrity endorsements you see. For example did you know Demi Moore works in a strip club in Kathmandu? Tiger Woods uses the entire mens toiletries section of an Indian department store in Darjeeling (next to the rice cookers) and then there is the endlesss stream of various starlets on the signs of beauty parlours, hairdressers, massage venues etc. But the one that takes the prize so far was discovered in Hanoi (see photo) Britney Spears, cunningly disguised as Anna Duong tu Huong was born 12/3/82 and sadly died in May 2001. Still it was very nice of her to let the headstone manufacturers use her image to help their buisness! We will be on the look out for more of these gems but something tells me it won't get better than that.
After a fab two weeks with Rhett, he sadly left taking our boots and various other bits and bobs that we could no longer face carrying. Thanks bro, we owe you. Oh, nearly forgot to mention the major lifeline Rhett brought along with him to Vietnam. The taste of the gorgeous red wine is still on our lips as we go back to our world of beer once again. Boo hoo.
