Morning All
Just a very quick update from Dalat before I get my bus to Nah Trang, its 6:50 in the morning at the moment.
One thing that you realise about Vietnam is that everyone gets up very early. At 5:00 am this morning there was some loud music playing in the street outside our window!
My Breakfast has just arrived; I'll update this once I am finished!
Finished breakfast now!
I don’t think that I am going to have time to update this one properly, I'll have to wait until later today when I am in Nah Trang or tomorrow when I arrive in Hoi An.
Finally I am getting the chance to update this bit properly, this time from Hoi An; a lovely city.
Our first day at Mui Ne we rented two moto's between the four of us for 90'000 dong each ($5 per moto!). That evening Giles and I drove the motos to the 'Red' dunes to watch the sun set, it was nice but these particular sand dunes are too commercialized as they are just out of town and were full of Vietnamese tourists.
The next day we got up at about 4:45 to go and watch the sun rise which was nice as there were not too many people at the dunes at this time in the morning. One of the best things about getting up at this time is that is nice and cool! After watching the sun rise we made our way to the white dunes (30km away + much better). I really like renting moto's as you can just stop at any point and take a photo, have a coffee at a local bar or anything!
The white sand dunes are quite something, as you walked in to the middle of them there was nothing to say that I was not in the middle of a desert! At this point it was about 10 in the morning and it was already getting unbearably hot. So we decided to make our way back to Mue Ne to walk up the 'Fairy Stream', which was alright but a little dirty. This kid decided to follow us and then tried to ask for money as a guide. Guide for what! There is only one way to walk in a river! I suppose that, that is one of my main gripes about Viet Nam; it seems that everyone including the children are out to make some money out of you in some way or another.
Anyhow after seeing all of the sites in the morning we headed back to our hotels for a little siesta to get out of the midday sun. The late afternoon was spent in the sea and sleeping on the beach.
The next morning we got the bus to Dalat, which was the worst one that I have been on so far! We were in a minibus designed for the Vietnamese, 5 people across the back... we did NOT fit. The road was diabolical full of holes!
Dalat was a nice enough city, not the best but still good. One of the best things about it was that it was high up in the mountains which meant that the weather was nice and cool. You could sleep in a room without a fan and for the first time I had top use a blanket!
Again we rented a moto in Dalat so that we could head out to Lang Biang Mountain to trek up to a peak of 2169m. The views from the top over the central highlands were really good, could see for miles! The climb up was a pain though, really steep in places necessitating the use of all four limbs. The afternoon we headed back to Dalat before heading out to Dantala Falls, quite impressive but a little touristy. We got stuck there as I experienced my first proper monsoonal downpour. I have NEVER seen so much rain, got absolutely soaked!
The next morning we headed for Hoi An via Nah Trang!
bye for now.
Jared
Wednesday, 20 May 2009
Saturday, 16 May 2009
Can Tho Night, Saigon, Mui Ne
Hello All Again,
Update from Mui Ne now, which is a nice beach location really hot, nice sand, nice beach sand dunes.
The last night of Can Tho was absolutely amazing! I went out with this French guy called Giles, who we have been traveling with for the last few days (I suspect we'll be traveling together for the next few weeks). We went to Bar 79 in Saigon, tiny joint off some side street, sat down had a few beers then these two old Vietnamese Guys came and sat down next to us, so we got talking for a while which was really cool. Some of the people out here are so friendly especially if you go to the bars that are not for the tourists and for the locals. After sitting with these two Vietnamese guys for a couple of hours Giles and I started to get up and leave, after to old boys had left, a whole table of 20 something’s invited us to sit down with them and eat. They also bought us a beer and decided it would be the perfect occasion to buy a bottle of rice wine and feed us copious amounts. Not the best this I must admit before getting a bus at 8 am the next morning!
Saigon was our next port of call, a pretty cool city, unbelievably busy! We stayed right in the centre of town in the main backpacker area. I did all of the touristy things that there are to do, visited the independence palace (where the southern Viet Govt was run from and is still occasionally used today), went to the rich district, very nice. I also went to the US war crimes museum, which quite possibly the best museum that I have been to in a very long time. I found it fascinating, horrifying, deeply moving and extremely educational all at the same time. It’s just interesting to get the view from the other side. Unfortunately I do not have photos of Saigon and the damn battery ran out on both my camera and my phone!
The first night in Saigon we went to meet on of toms friends in a really nice bar, bloody expensive though! The second we decided to opt for one of the local cheap bars. It seems that there are so many more travelers out here that I have met in Kampot, Ha Tien, Can Tho, Saigon and now Mui Ne!
Arrived in Mui Ne this afternoon, straight to the beach and in the sea for a good couple of hours. Rented a moto this afternoon and drove to some massive sand dunes just outside of the town to watch dusk. We're all getting up at 4:45 tomorrow to watch the sun rise over at the dunes, and on that note I had better be getting to bed to get some much needed rest.
Adios
Jared
Update from Mui Ne now, which is a nice beach location really hot, nice sand, nice beach sand dunes.
The last night of Can Tho was absolutely amazing! I went out with this French guy called Giles, who we have been traveling with for the last few days (I suspect we'll be traveling together for the next few weeks). We went to Bar 79 in Saigon, tiny joint off some side street, sat down had a few beers then these two old Vietnamese Guys came and sat down next to us, so we got talking for a while which was really cool. Some of the people out here are so friendly especially if you go to the bars that are not for the tourists and for the locals. After sitting with these two Vietnamese guys for a couple of hours Giles and I started to get up and leave, after to old boys had left, a whole table of 20 something’s invited us to sit down with them and eat. They also bought us a beer and decided it would be the perfect occasion to buy a bottle of rice wine and feed us copious amounts. Not the best this I must admit before getting a bus at 8 am the next morning!
Saigon was our next port of call, a pretty cool city, unbelievably busy! We stayed right in the centre of town in the main backpacker area. I did all of the touristy things that there are to do, visited the independence palace (where the southern Viet Govt was run from and is still occasionally used today), went to the rich district, very nice. I also went to the US war crimes museum, which quite possibly the best museum that I have been to in a very long time. I found it fascinating, horrifying, deeply moving and extremely educational all at the same time. It’s just interesting to get the view from the other side. Unfortunately I do not have photos of Saigon and the damn battery ran out on both my camera and my phone!
The first night in Saigon we went to meet on of toms friends in a really nice bar, bloody expensive though! The second we decided to opt for one of the local cheap bars. It seems that there are so many more travelers out here that I have met in Kampot, Ha Tien, Can Tho, Saigon and now Mui Ne!
Arrived in Mui Ne this afternoon, straight to the beach and in the sea for a good couple of hours. Rented a moto this afternoon and drove to some massive sand dunes just outside of the town to watch dusk. We're all getting up at 4:45 tomorrow to watch the sun rise over at the dunes, and on that note I had better be getting to bed to get some much needed rest.
Adios
Jared
Wednesday, 13 May 2009
Can Tho and the Floating Markets
Hello all from Can Tho this time,
Boy was the bus from Ha Tien to Can Tho an interesting one! The drivers over here are nuts, they overtake on blind bends, with cars coming the other way playing chicken and talegate like you would not belive. It took about five hours to get here and it was not exactly comfortable, no AC just four 40!
Can Tho itself is a nice enough city of about 1 million people they all seem friendly enough, plus its a hell of a lot cleaner than anywhere else that we have been.
Oh before I get onto Can Tho I forgot to let you lot know about Hon Chong. When we got to Ha Tien we managed to find a travel agent that had only been open for a day or two so we managed to get some good deals out of them. Between the three of us we had a chauffeur in a nice new 4x4 drive us around for the day to all of the local attractions for the measly sum of 10 - 11 dollars! We drove to some of the local pagodas inside karst caves, the local beach, and what they call the little Ha Long Bay of the south [not at all], it was all very nice but a little crowded though as it is currently the Vietnamese holiday high season! You would not believe how many people were in the caves, all of them stopping before Bhudda and praying!
After we returned from Hon Chong we got the bus at 04:45 to Can Tho...
I have already mentioned my first impressions of the city, so on to what I actually got up to. THe first day we pretty much walked around soaking it all in, down to the local market to get some fruit (which is amazing over here!) across to the river to some other markets. We also booked a river tour with our hostel for about $11 for a 8 hour cruise through all of the floating markets in the area, + the back water canals and rice paper factory. While walkig along the street we met this French Guy who asked for directions and about boat tours. In the end we spent the rest of the afternoon walking around with him. He also came on the boat tour with us today, which was really cool. It started with a slow meander down the Mekong, or one of its delta tributaries, to watch the sunset. After we frequented one floating market, ate some pineapple, and some fruits that I have never had before nor do I know the name of them, none the less they were lush. Rice factory next, rather interesting place, i never new they made noodles that way (photos will eventually follow). We then went to another market followed by a visit to a restaurant to have some coconut, jack fruit and a massage! Our guide that showed us around for the day was a complete nutter, he started a food fight in the middle of the market between some of the boats. We were all throwing food peel at each other in the end!
Any how I am going to have to cut this one short as I am quite hungry, and I need to start uploading some photos, which takes ages!
Adios for now.
Jared
Boy was the bus from Ha Tien to Can Tho an interesting one! The drivers over here are nuts, they overtake on blind bends, with cars coming the other way playing chicken and talegate like you would not belive. It took about five hours to get here and it was not exactly comfortable, no AC just four 40!
Can Tho itself is a nice enough city of about 1 million people they all seem friendly enough, plus its a hell of a lot cleaner than anywhere else that we have been.
Oh before I get onto Can Tho I forgot to let you lot know about Hon Chong. When we got to Ha Tien we managed to find a travel agent that had only been open for a day or two so we managed to get some good deals out of them. Between the three of us we had a chauffeur in a nice new 4x4 drive us around for the day to all of the local attractions for the measly sum of 10 - 11 dollars! We drove to some of the local pagodas inside karst caves, the local beach, and what they call the little Ha Long Bay of the south [not at all], it was all very nice but a little crowded though as it is currently the Vietnamese holiday high season! You would not believe how many people were in the caves, all of them stopping before Bhudda and praying!
After we returned from Hon Chong we got the bus at 04:45 to Can Tho...
I have already mentioned my first impressions of the city, so on to what I actually got up to. THe first day we pretty much walked around soaking it all in, down to the local market to get some fruit (which is amazing over here!) across to the river to some other markets. We also booked a river tour with our hostel for about $11 for a 8 hour cruise through all of the floating markets in the area, + the back water canals and rice paper factory. While walkig along the street we met this French Guy who asked for directions and about boat tours. In the end we spent the rest of the afternoon walking around with him. He also came on the boat tour with us today, which was really cool. It started with a slow meander down the Mekong, or one of its delta tributaries, to watch the sunset. After we frequented one floating market, ate some pineapple, and some fruits that I have never had before nor do I know the name of them, none the less they were lush. Rice factory next, rather interesting place, i never new they made noodles that way (photos will eventually follow). We then went to another market followed by a visit to a restaurant to have some coconut, jack fruit and a massage! Our guide that showed us around for the day was a complete nutter, he started a food fight in the middle of the market between some of the boats. We were all throwing food peel at each other in the end!
Any how I am going to have to cut this one short as I am quite hungry, and I need to start uploading some photos, which takes ages!
Adios for now.
Jared
Sunday, 10 May 2009
Vietnam At Last: The Mekong Delta!!
Hello All
This time from the Ha Tien in the Mekong Delta.
I've only been here for three hours and already Vietnam seems to be a pretty cool place!
I guess I'd better update you lot on my travels over the last few days.
After staying the night in Kampot we went on a tour of Bokor National Park with Keyman Tours. It involved a 6-7 hour jungle trek to the top on the mountain where there was an old abandoned French colonial settlement for the right and famous, and a trek back down the next day (but we managed to get a lift in the back of a lorry for 1 USD!!). It was quite possibly the wettest thing that I have ever done, I could not believe that I was able to sweat that much, every single piece of clothing that I was wearing was soaked through. Think about climing Snowdonia in thick rainforest and 30 degrees C heat! Not an easy task. It was a bit of a man challenge though to keep up with the local park rangers [which i did managed to do]. Tom and Nicole managed to see a Monkey, and the ranger apparently with them pointed out to a bear! All I saw was a snake and some huge ass spiders.
Once at the top of the hill it was really cool and misty, the whole top seemed to be shrouded in cloud for the whole day and for most of the evening too. The mountain is pretty much a plateau which the French built a village for the rich and diplomats in order to get out of the heat. All of the building are in poor order, except for the old hospital which they now use as a base for the NP and a guest house for trekkers. Words can't really describe what I saw, you'll have to wait for me to upload some photos. Think of a big hotel/ casino built in the 1920's by the french which is now empty, just a shell. There were school buildings, a post office, another hotel, some houses, government buildings and a church really quite surreal!
The next day we managed to persuade one of the workers up on the hill to give us a lift back down to the entrance of the park for a dollar, saving us a 32 km hike, not too bad aye!
The same afternoon we got a tuk tuk to Kep and then a boat to Koh Tonsey (Rabbit Island). The boat journey there and back was really interesting to say the least. We were in a pissy little fishing boat in 1-2m swell, i swore that we were going to capsize a couple of times! It was good to get to the Island just to sit in your stereotypical beach hut made from bamboo and bannana leaf in a hamock watching the world go by. I pretty much managed to read 90% of my book in one day!
I just have to add this bit, I've just had some old Vietnamese guy leaning over my shoulder for the last five minutes completely besotted with what I was typing! He was talking to be but I didn't really understand what he was saying.
Any how time to sign off and get some dinner!
Plan for the next few days is:
Ha Tien --> Hon Chong tomorrow
Hon Chong --> Can Tho
I dont know the rest yet!
Anyhow Adios!
Jared
This time from the Ha Tien in the Mekong Delta.
I've only been here for three hours and already Vietnam seems to be a pretty cool place!
I guess I'd better update you lot on my travels over the last few days.
After staying the night in Kampot we went on a tour of Bokor National Park with Keyman Tours. It involved a 6-7 hour jungle trek to the top on the mountain where there was an old abandoned French colonial settlement for the right and famous, and a trek back down the next day (but we managed to get a lift in the back of a lorry for 1 USD!!). It was quite possibly the wettest thing that I have ever done, I could not believe that I was able to sweat that much, every single piece of clothing that I was wearing was soaked through. Think about climing Snowdonia in thick rainforest and 30 degrees C heat! Not an easy task. It was a bit of a man challenge though to keep up with the local park rangers [which i did managed to do]. Tom and Nicole managed to see a Monkey, and the ranger apparently with them pointed out to a bear! All I saw was a snake and some huge ass spiders.
Once at the top of the hill it was really cool and misty, the whole top seemed to be shrouded in cloud for the whole day and for most of the evening too. The mountain is pretty much a plateau which the French built a village for the rich and diplomats in order to get out of the heat. All of the building are in poor order, except for the old hospital which they now use as a base for the NP and a guest house for trekkers. Words can't really describe what I saw, you'll have to wait for me to upload some photos. Think of a big hotel/ casino built in the 1920's by the french which is now empty, just a shell. There were school buildings, a post office, another hotel, some houses, government buildings and a church really quite surreal!
The next day we managed to persuade one of the workers up on the hill to give us a lift back down to the entrance of the park for a dollar, saving us a 32 km hike, not too bad aye!
The same afternoon we got a tuk tuk to Kep and then a boat to Koh Tonsey (Rabbit Island). The boat journey there and back was really interesting to say the least. We were in a pissy little fishing boat in 1-2m swell, i swore that we were going to capsize a couple of times! It was good to get to the Island just to sit in your stereotypical beach hut made from bamboo and bannana leaf in a hamock watching the world go by. I pretty much managed to read 90% of my book in one day!
I just have to add this bit, I've just had some old Vietnamese guy leaning over my shoulder for the last five minutes completely besotted with what I was typing! He was talking to be but I didn't really understand what he was saying.
Any how time to sign off and get some dinner!
Plan for the next few days is:
Ha Tien --> Hon Chong tomorrow
Hon Chong --> Can Tho
I dont know the rest yet!
Anyhow Adios!
Jared
Wednesday, 6 May 2009
Bokor National Park + Kampot
Hello again
Now I'll give you all a longer update.
After leaving Bangkok we got a bus from the eastern bus station to the border for 2.60 quid, a five hour bus journey, bloody cheap! This was our first border crossing, an interesting one, from which I learnt alot! You soon realize that being in a country such as Cambodia no one will do anything for free! This guy just grabbed my passport and started filling in the forms for me to hand into the officials, i thought he worked for the border team, no the cheeky bugger wanted me to pay him for filling out my forms! Basically we told them to piss off and just walked to our taxi and drove off. The taxi is another story, taxi's everywhere over hear take you to a hotel of their choice where they get commission for dropping you off. In the end you just have to say no and walk off! We didn't stay in Koh Kong for long as we arrived by night and it did not seem to be that good of a place. After that we got a bus to Sihanouk Ville for 9 bucks.
Sihanouk Ville was even worse, the place was a complete dump. The beach was filth and the area just seemed to be full of bars for the tourists, of which there seem to be hardly any in this country! The beach was full of rubbish and effluent from the bars seems to be pumped straight out onto the beach/ sea! We had to go here though to get our Vietnamese Visas as this is meant to be the best place to get them. The visa is quite expensive at $40 but it took 20 minutes to process!
After Sihanouk Ville we got a share taxi from just outside the local market to Kampot, a much nicer town, for around $6. Kampot seem to be a nice place, a little run down if I'm honest but full of really old French colonial buildings. Yesterday afternoon we chartered a boat to take us up to Techou rapids, about a 1 1/2 hour boat. There were some amazing views across the valley, loads of riverside fishing villages, your stereotypical stilt houses with reed roofs! The rapids were a bit of a disappointment as we found out only once we were up there that the government have decided to build a dam up river just around the corner effectively slowing the flow so much that the rapids seemed to be just a trickle of water!
This afternoon we got a tuk tuk to a buhddist temple that was built in the middle of a cave. The local village kids took us round the caves and deep into them crawling through some rather small gaps to get back out, only by torch light for about 12p, they were happy though!
Tomorrow were trekking through the jungle with a a local guide to Bokor National Park which is meant to be really nice, it takes two days and you sleep up there in the old rangers station!
After this I think that we're off to Kep and Koh Tonsay Island then we head for the Vietnamese border at Hat Chien (only opened recently to johnny foreigners) through the Mekong Delta to Saigon.
I'll hopefully be able to update once I am in Vietnam.
Adios for now.
Hope all is going well at home.
Jared
Now I'll give you all a longer update.
After leaving Bangkok we got a bus from the eastern bus station to the border for 2.60 quid, a five hour bus journey, bloody cheap! This was our first border crossing, an interesting one, from which I learnt alot! You soon realize that being in a country such as Cambodia no one will do anything for free! This guy just grabbed my passport and started filling in the forms for me to hand into the officials, i thought he worked for the border team, no the cheeky bugger wanted me to pay him for filling out my forms! Basically we told them to piss off and just walked to our taxi and drove off. The taxi is another story, taxi's everywhere over hear take you to a hotel of their choice where they get commission for dropping you off. In the end you just have to say no and walk off! We didn't stay in Koh Kong for long as we arrived by night and it did not seem to be that good of a place. After that we got a bus to Sihanouk Ville for 9 bucks.
Sihanouk Ville was even worse, the place was a complete dump. The beach was filth and the area just seemed to be full of bars for the tourists, of which there seem to be hardly any in this country! The beach was full of rubbish and effluent from the bars seems to be pumped straight out onto the beach/ sea! We had to go here though to get our Vietnamese Visas as this is meant to be the best place to get them. The visa is quite expensive at $40 but it took 20 minutes to process!
After Sihanouk Ville we got a share taxi from just outside the local market to Kampot, a much nicer town, for around $6. Kampot seem to be a nice place, a little run down if I'm honest but full of really old French colonial buildings. Yesterday afternoon we chartered a boat to take us up to Techou rapids, about a 1 1/2 hour boat. There were some amazing views across the valley, loads of riverside fishing villages, your stereotypical stilt houses with reed roofs! The rapids were a bit of a disappointment as we found out only once we were up there that the government have decided to build a dam up river just around the corner effectively slowing the flow so much that the rapids seemed to be just a trickle of water!
This afternoon we got a tuk tuk to a buhddist temple that was built in the middle of a cave. The local village kids took us round the caves and deep into them crawling through some rather small gaps to get back out, only by torch light for about 12p, they were happy though!
Tomorrow were trekking through the jungle with a a local guide to Bokor National Park which is meant to be really nice, it takes two days and you sleep up there in the old rangers station!
After this I think that we're off to Kep and Koh Tonsay Island then we head for the Vietnamese border at Hat Chien (only opened recently to johnny foreigners) through the Mekong Delta to Saigon.
I'll hopefully be able to update once I am in Vietnam.
Adios for now.
Hope all is going well at home.
Jared
Update 2: Bangkok to Kampot
Hello All Again,
Just another update from Kampot this time. Travelled from BKK to Koh Kong stayed one night there and got the bus to Sihanoukville, which we did not like too much as it was a complete dump, the town was a tip really dirty. so we decided to go to Kampot which is much nicer. Its an old french colonial town, with some nice architecture and mountain backdrop. Off to Kep to see the beach possibly today and up to bokor mountain for a night which should be very cool.
any how this was only a v short update, longer one to follow, hopefully tonight when i can get my archos working.
adios jared
Just another update from Kampot this time. Travelled from BKK to Koh Kong stayed one night there and got the bus to Sihanoukville, which we did not like too much as it was a complete dump, the town was a tip really dirty. so we decided to go to Kampot which is much nicer. Its an old french colonial town, with some nice architecture and mountain backdrop. Off to Kep to see the beach possibly today and up to bokor mountain for a night which should be very cool.
any how this was only a v short update, longer one to follow, hopefully tonight when i can get my archos working.
adios jared
Saturday, 2 May 2009
First Update from BANGKOK!!!!
Hello All
This is my first update from Bangkok, and boy is it interesting!
There is so much to tell I have seen loads and its soo bloody cheap.
First day in BKK was really interesting, damn taxi man tried to pull one over on us. He kept flicking this switch by his steering wheel making the charge shoot up to about 600 baht (12 quid). I just got out and started bartering with him. Managed to get him down though.
Our hostel is pretty cool, we're right on the river front (skanky ass river!), to get to the hostel you have to walk down these really small side streets, slum!
Yesterday we started talking to this Thai student on the street who told us where the really cool places to go were, he then flagged down a couple of tuk tuks for us, who droves us around the city for a good couple of hours to all of these temples and Buddhas which are normally closed but were open due to a Buddha holiday, all for the measly sum of 50 pence!!
Food from the street vendors is also brilliant, you can eat a really nice chicken noodle soup for around 60p or pad thai (fried egg noodles) for 50p.
Today I went to the royal palace which was rather stunning, gold every where!
Off to Koh Sanh Road tonight for some beer and more cheap food. Off to the eastern bus station to get a bus to Trat and then on to Koh Kong, just over the border in Cambodia.
I'll try to update later in the week probably will not be until i get to Phnom Penh in about 6 days.
Hope all is well back home with you lot.
Adios Jared
P.S. i will endeavor to update some photos soon.
This is my first update from Bangkok, and boy is it interesting!
There is so much to tell I have seen loads and its soo bloody cheap.
First day in BKK was really interesting, damn taxi man tried to pull one over on us. He kept flicking this switch by his steering wheel making the charge shoot up to about 600 baht (12 quid). I just got out and started bartering with him. Managed to get him down though.
Our hostel is pretty cool, we're right on the river front (skanky ass river!), to get to the hostel you have to walk down these really small side streets, slum!
Yesterday we started talking to this Thai student on the street who told us where the really cool places to go were, he then flagged down a couple of tuk tuks for us, who droves us around the city for a good couple of hours to all of these temples and Buddhas which are normally closed but were open due to a Buddha holiday, all for the measly sum of 50 pence!!
Food from the street vendors is also brilliant, you can eat a really nice chicken noodle soup for around 60p or pad thai (fried egg noodles) for 50p.
Today I went to the royal palace which was rather stunning, gold every where!
Off to Koh Sanh Road tonight for some beer and more cheap food. Off to the eastern bus station to get a bus to Trat and then on to Koh Kong, just over the border in Cambodia.
I'll try to update later in the week probably will not be until i get to Phnom Penh in about 6 days.
Hope all is well back home with you lot.
Adios Jared
P.S. i will endeavor to update some photos soon.
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