Well Hi to all
I am a little late in updating my blog a mix of having no time to go to the Internet, poor if no internet connection and a felling of 'can't be bovered'.
Well anyhow I have been up to quite a bit over the last week or so. I have been in 3 countries since!
Laos and the 4000 islands.
Well first off let talk about Pakxe, a rubbish transit town that I was stuck in for 2 days. Its pretty much the point to stop off if you want to go trekking or get down to the Sii Pan Don (islands in the Mekong river). Trekking was pretty high on my list of things that I wanted to do but not for $165 for two days! I went to the tourist office to enquire and it was just to expensive for me to even consider doing a trek. As a compromise i decided to rent a moto from my hotel and spend the day driving around the Bolaven Plataux, the coffee growing region of Laos. It was pretty interesting beautiful country and some awesome waterfalls! I did manage to fry my arms and fall off the moto on a particularly tricky piece of road. Luckily I was going so slow that no damage was done to either myself or the moto!
After spending the day around the Bolaven Plataux I headed down south to make my way across to Sii Pan Don or the 4000 islands. This was a nice retreat for a couple of days. I pretty much spent all of my time either in a hammock reading or cycling around the small islands. I also went to go see the biggest, by volume, waterfall in Asia! It sounds impressive but its not really, just looks like any old waterfall!
It was also on these islands that I split from travelling with Tom and Nicole to become another lone traveller. They wanted to get on to Phnom Penh before I did + I fancied another day on the island of nothing!
Cambodia.
SO afterwards I headed south to Phnom Penh for the mere sum of $23, a complete rip off but they know that you have no other options! I was cramped for most of the journey and at one point did not actually have a seat to myself. We had to change the bus 3 times!
Once in Phnom Penh the usual 'I have tuk tuk but only my place no other' men appeared everywhere. I ended up just getting in one of these with a French guy called Alban and a South Korean called Yousung. The first night was a laugh ended, of course, in a few beers in one of the cheap backpacker bars. The following day was spent seeing the Khmer Rouge sites in Phnom Penh... the Killing Fields at Cheoung Ek and Tsol Stueng Museum (S-21 prison) rather depressing places and to think that it happened only 30 years ago. They pretty much massacred any one they thought opposed their reign of power; this included small children, women and babies, sick.
Anyhow on to least depressing adventures. This day was followed by another night in the local bars before having to rise at a stupid time in the morning for a bus to Siem Reap. Off to see the temples of Angkor Wat and wat an impressive sight they were. [did you get that one, oh god cheesey humour is not good for the soul] We managed to get a free tuk tuk from the bus station to our hotel because the driver thought he was going to be taking us (the Korean guy and I) around the temples for the next two days; he however gave us a stupid price so we sought other transport with the assumption that we would not see him again, and of course we did see him again!
Angkor Wat is a pretty Impressive place but extremely expensive to see, about $57 for two days driving around all of the temples. It is however a necessity if you are coming to this part of the world. Angkor Wat is pretty impressive just for the pure fact that it is the largest religious building in the world, those Khmers certainly know how to build with elegance and style! The carvings on the rocks are just amazing seeing as they are nearly 1000 years old. For atmosphere however there are other temples which are far better just for the pure fact that there are far fewer tourists around; namely Ta Prom or more commonly known as the Tomb Rader Temple. This temple is by far the coolest out of all of the ones at Angkor Wat, its in the middle of a forest and the forest has decided to take over all of the buildings in style draping themselves over 1000 year old buildings... impressive!
Our driver for the two days was a guy called Rath, pronounced Rot! He was a legend really nice guy full of useful information. He had a pretty hard upbringing as he has no parents and spent his formative years being a monk in one of the local temples withing Phnom Penh. At the age of 18 he left the temple in search of work eventually ending up in Siem Reap driving tourists like me around. He earns very little but still wants to give someting back to the kids of Cambodia. He offers ever tourist a free tuk tuk to the local children's hospital for a concert held by this Swiss guy trying to raise money for several children's hospitals throughout Cambodia. I went to one of these and it was a thoroughly enjoyable event, made me feel good.
Bangkok part 2.
After a long and boring bus ride from Siem Reap to Bangkok I ended up sharing a room for the night with an English guy called Shaun and an Italian/ German/ Swedish guy and what a night we had. We thought it would be a good idea to bar crawly Kho Sanh Road. Great ideal at the time I really enjoyed it as it was a random event but boy did I ever regret it the next day! I had to be up at 6 to get the bus to the airport in time for my flight to Kuala Lumpur, I felt haggard.
Kuala Lumpur and my weird arse flight.
So there I was sitting quite happily reading my book waiting for the plane when this German guy sits next to me and starts talking, for ever. I found out that he worked for Interpol in Thailand, had visited most of the worlds war zones, supposedly set up the governmental aid scheme for Tsunami victims in 2004 and wait has the best idea in the world. He thinks that building a load of towers throughout America and the world dedicated to charity is going to work. He also informed me that he had an invitation to meet Barak Obama, Valadimir Putin, the Jap Prime Minister among others to explain his idea. Weird. He also insisted that I wear a surgical mask on the plane because of the influenza scare. Interesting.
Well Kuala Lumpur is an Awesome City. I have spent the day today just walking around all of the sights. Seeing some of the old colonial British buildings and of course the Petronas towers. The towers are amazing they completely dominate the skyline both at day and night! I also went up to the sky bridge to look at the sights all around this was an amazing experience and also a really scary one! It was scary because the bridge is at the height of the bungee jump that I want to do in NZ, whoooaaaa it is high! I think I'll have to cross that bridge when I come to it!
Well anyhow I have been jabbering on for far too long now, off to the Perhentian islands tonight on a bus then Singapore.
Adios till next time.
Jared
Tuesday, 23 June 2009
Friday, 12 June 2009
I am now a Mahoot... well kinda
Howdy from Vientiane the capital of Laos
Reading the news over the last few days it looks as if labor got a kicking, who'd though that was going to happen!
Anyhow traveling is more interesting than politics!
So Luang Prabang... a really nice place to sit and do..... well nothing really but walk around and see the sights. The town itself has something like 750 + Monks and 52+ temples in the centre! Everywhere you look there is a bunch of novice monks walking around in their orange robes with a whole bunch of books. The temples are amazing, there was one in particular at the very end of the peninsula that was decorated in high images made entirely of colored mirrored glass, it was great to just sit here and read whilst watching the sun set with the monks in evening chant in the background. The food was pretty good too, lots of quaint little art cafe's which were half art gallery half restaurant. There was also a pretty good night market where you could pick up almost anything at a bargain price. A couple of the evenings we ended up going to the local book shop to watch a film for free before going for a couple of drinks in the bar next door.
Luang Prabang was also where we booked our elephant trekking from! It sure did cost a few squiddlies but it was worth it! The first day we got a bus out to where the elephant village was, about 15 k's from the town out in the countryside. We arrived and pretty much got straight onto an elephant. Of course there was the obligatory welcome, do's and don't etc but they were all common sense. I was lucky enough to be on an elephant by myself so the mahoot said I could sit 'up front' on the neck! Not as easy to sit there as you might think. Its right on top of the animals shoulders so you end up having to lean on the head to save from falling! We were out for about 40 minutes before coming back to the camp where they taught us to drive the elephants, i.e. pai = go, how = stop, sai = left, khawp = right, seung = bend your leg so that i can step on it while you push me up, map = lay down, wai wai = speed up!
To get on the elephants is strange, you have to grab a hold of its right ear shout seung, step on its leg and haul your ass up there using its ear!
The afternoon was spent in the river. I'd though it's be a good idea to swim across to the other side of the river as the current was 'not that strong'... boy how wrong was I. I made it about half way across when I started thinking oh boy I'm not going to be able to make it to the sand bank, I then thought it would be a good idea to swim harder against the current, only to knacker myself out! Fully fledged panic now as I could not touch the bottom and I was being swept further down stream and did not fancy a long walk back. On the other side was when I started thinking how on earth am I going to make it across. I ended up walking 100 odd yards up stream to give me plenty of time and angle to swim across! Nice water though. After this, we headed back to the elephants and walked them into the jungle where they sleep before heading for dinner.
The next morning was by far the best bit, we walked out to the jungle where we dropped the elephants off at about 6 in the morning to go back to the river to wash them! The elephants just piled right in to the middle of the river before completely submerging themselves and me! They seemed to really like the water and would angle their head for you so that you could scrub and splash water over them. There was no where near enough time to do this but still it was fun.
That same afternoon we got the bus to Vang Vieng the travelers must go to point of Laos. Its basically a town of bars bars and more bars selling cheap food and booze. It is also the location of the famed tubing in Laos. They give you a tractor inner tube bus you 4 klicks up river drop you in and you float leisurely back via some more bars of course! As it was obligatory we thought it'd be a shame not to do this! We only spent one night here as we wanted to make our way down south via Vientiane.
Vientiane, not great as we already knew, got here last night and am leaving tonight for Pakse. Its your typical SE Asian capital, lots of people (to Laos standards) and loads of smog everywhere that its almost choking. We only cam here to get our Cambodian visas.
Any how next update will be from Pakse, off there to go trekking in the Bolaven Plateau (Coffee central for Laos) and to sit and not do much in Xe Phan Don (4000 islands, a bunch of river eytes), then Cambodia.
Adios for now
Jared
Reading the news over the last few days it looks as if labor got a kicking, who'd though that was going to happen!
Anyhow traveling is more interesting than politics!
So Luang Prabang... a really nice place to sit and do..... well nothing really but walk around and see the sights. The town itself has something like 750 + Monks and 52+ temples in the centre! Everywhere you look there is a bunch of novice monks walking around in their orange robes with a whole bunch of books. The temples are amazing, there was one in particular at the very end of the peninsula that was decorated in high images made entirely of colored mirrored glass, it was great to just sit here and read whilst watching the sun set with the monks in evening chant in the background. The food was pretty good too, lots of quaint little art cafe's which were half art gallery half restaurant. There was also a pretty good night market where you could pick up almost anything at a bargain price. A couple of the evenings we ended up going to the local book shop to watch a film for free before going for a couple of drinks in the bar next door.
Luang Prabang was also where we booked our elephant trekking from! It sure did cost a few squiddlies but it was worth it! The first day we got a bus out to where the elephant village was, about 15 k's from the town out in the countryside. We arrived and pretty much got straight onto an elephant. Of course there was the obligatory welcome, do's and don't etc but they were all common sense. I was lucky enough to be on an elephant by myself so the mahoot said I could sit 'up front' on the neck! Not as easy to sit there as you might think. Its right on top of the animals shoulders so you end up having to lean on the head to save from falling! We were out for about 40 minutes before coming back to the camp where they taught us to drive the elephants, i.e. pai = go, how = stop, sai = left, khawp = right, seung = bend your leg so that i can step on it while you push me up, map = lay down, wai wai = speed up!
To get on the elephants is strange, you have to grab a hold of its right ear shout seung, step on its leg and haul your ass up there using its ear!
The afternoon was spent in the river. I'd though it's be a good idea to swim across to the other side of the river as the current was 'not that strong'... boy how wrong was I. I made it about half way across when I started thinking oh boy I'm not going to be able to make it to the sand bank, I then thought it would be a good idea to swim harder against the current, only to knacker myself out! Fully fledged panic now as I could not touch the bottom and I was being swept further down stream and did not fancy a long walk back. On the other side was when I started thinking how on earth am I going to make it across. I ended up walking 100 odd yards up stream to give me plenty of time and angle to swim across! Nice water though. After this, we headed back to the elephants and walked them into the jungle where they sleep before heading for dinner.
The next morning was by far the best bit, we walked out to the jungle where we dropped the elephants off at about 6 in the morning to go back to the river to wash them! The elephants just piled right in to the middle of the river before completely submerging themselves and me! They seemed to really like the water and would angle their head for you so that you could scrub and splash water over them. There was no where near enough time to do this but still it was fun.
That same afternoon we got the bus to Vang Vieng the travelers must go to point of Laos. Its basically a town of bars bars and more bars selling cheap food and booze. It is also the location of the famed tubing in Laos. They give you a tractor inner tube bus you 4 klicks up river drop you in and you float leisurely back via some more bars of course! As it was obligatory we thought it'd be a shame not to do this! We only spent one night here as we wanted to make our way down south via Vientiane.
Vientiane, not great as we already knew, got here last night and am leaving tonight for Pakse. Its your typical SE Asian capital, lots of people (to Laos standards) and loads of smog everywhere that its almost choking. We only cam here to get our Cambodian visas.
Any how next update will be from Pakse, off there to go trekking in the Bolaven Plateau (Coffee central for Laos) and to sit and not do much in Xe Phan Don (4000 islands, a bunch of river eytes), then Cambodia.
Adios for now
Jared
Sunday, 7 June 2009
Bong's, Busses and Border crossings!
Hi all, this time I am writing from Louang Prabang, Laos a beautiful country!
The last few days, well week of my travels have certainly been interesting.
My last day in Sapa before heading for the border was a really good one, muddy and wet yes, but good. Rather spookily in the room next to me was Audrey, a French Canadian girl whom I briefly spoke to all the way back in Hoi An! It seems that in Vietnam once you have met some one you'll keep seeing them time and time again. Well anyhow it turned out that Audrey had managed to find a local guide called Chi to show us round some of the local villages. I had spent the day before asking around to see If any of the locals could show me around but it seemed that there were only tour companies who charge ridiculous prices. Speaking to Chi it was also apparent that the hotels etc keep 75% of the price, FOR WHAT! ringing up a local guide for you using their phone... scam.
Well any ways we set off towards the other side of the town away from all of the other tourists to a couple of villages before getting a moto back up the mountain to Sapa. It was really nice as it seemed that we were getting off the 'beaten track' and seeing some of the villages that other tourist don't go to. The morning started off a little dreary from the the low clouds that seemed to haunt Sapa during our stay, but soon enough we had dropped down low enough to evade them and boy what a sight. There were rice paddies everywhere on some pretty unbelievable slopes too! Well Chi led us right through the middle of them, walking along the paddy walls getting covered in the clayey mud, wet too. It was really good traveling with Chi as she had some much knowledge of the surrounding plants, she got me to scrub the plant in my palms which turned them indigo blue for 4 days! She also pointed out to us all of the hemp (which stank), tea and herbal remedy plants that they use for all their minor ailments. At the end of the trek we went to the local village where Chi cooked us up a lovely vegetable noodle soup before heading back up the mountain.
After getting a well needed shower we headed out to the local food stalls for some dinner and on the way we happened to pass quite possibly the coolest bar in Sapa. Artista Cafe owned by guy called Lhung, pronounced Hung with a low U and a G with your tongue held at the back of your throat. Anyhow Lhung brought us out a whole load of permanent markers for us to draw all over the stools and tables, cool huh! After a few beers and a chat with Lhung about his cafe, life and family etcetera he brought out what appeared to be a huge bamboo bong. I'd seen these all over Hanoi before but had never asked what they were, whackey backey or just plain old tobacco. As it turns out is tobacco, not just any plain old tobacco Black Hmong tobacco from the hill tribes around Sapa. You can guess where this is going, Lhung offered it to us to try and as I was the nearest to him I tried first; the guinea pig! MISTAKE! So Lhung lights the bong gets it going and passes the pipe over for me to try, well here goes I took a big old puff and WHOOOOAAAAAA I thought I was going to pass out, the biggest head rush! It was ridiculously strong tobacco I ended up coughing an spluttering all over the place belching smoke much to the amusement of everyone in the bar! Safe to say the next person took a much smaller puff!
Now here is for the really interesting part of my travels and this bit relates to the title of this post. We had heard from loads of travelers that the northern Vietnam/ Laos border crossing was the worst, and yes it was. At least it was an unforgettable experience!
The next day we wait for the bus, 1/2 hour late and already pretty packed with people! We thought that as the bus was full we were the last to be picked up, wrong, the driver managed to find space for 4 more people to get in! Okay so we start out and 10 minutes later we stop, whats going on, oh the drivers must be changing... no they decided it would be a good idea to light up a bong like the one i spoke of earlier and take a few chugs. It turns out that every 40 minutes the drivers decided to swap and smoke the whole time during the 10 hour slaughter to Dien Bien. On the way to Dien Bien we had to wait at two road blocks for landslides and a burst tyre! Although it was cramped and yes it was long this part of Vietnam is the most remote and has some of the best scenery which made it worthwhile. So we get to DBP stay the night and get up for the 05:30 bus the next morning to the Laos border. This border is in the middle of nowhere not a village in sight for miles just two grand border gates sitting atop adjacent mountains, pretty cool. We pass through with relative ease, a rarity, and make our way towards Muong Kiew. This took about 8 hours but no landslides this time just beautiful scenery. Rather disturbingly there is deforestation everywhere, slash and burn style, speaking to some people it appears that the Chinese have a hand here getting at all the timber out before anyone else!
Mong Kua, a nice riverside town of dainty little shacks. Well anyhow the bus drops us off right at the river edge and we have to get a small boat over to the other side before carrying on to the next stop.. Udomxai... a dump. Im glad that we only had one night here before getting a bus to Nong Kiew and a longtail boat to Muong Ngoi. The boat up the Nam On river to Muong Ngoi was interesting as its the rainy season out here the rivers are high and quite turbulent :S! Well Muong Ngoi is a nice little village, our shack was pretty cool looking over the river and mountains from the hammock. I spent the first day here just sitting in the hammock reading, bliss. The second day we trek up one of the local paths to a cave with a Israeli girl called Sharet. Luckily I bought my dive torch with me so that we could illuminate the whole darn cave! We went right inside so that when I turned the torch off it was pitch black, thinking now we would have been totally screwed if I'd ran out of power! A little further down the path we come across a few rice paddies and a small collection of villages, it raining pretty hard at this point so we decide to head back to the village for another afternoon in the hammock asleep.
After Moung Ngoi we got the boat/ bus to Louang Prabang but I'll save this town for my next blog with the elephant trekking tomorrow!
Adios Jared
The last few days, well week of my travels have certainly been interesting.
My last day in Sapa before heading for the border was a really good one, muddy and wet yes, but good. Rather spookily in the room next to me was Audrey, a French Canadian girl whom I briefly spoke to all the way back in Hoi An! It seems that in Vietnam once you have met some one you'll keep seeing them time and time again. Well anyhow it turned out that Audrey had managed to find a local guide called Chi to show us round some of the local villages. I had spent the day before asking around to see If any of the locals could show me around but it seemed that there were only tour companies who charge ridiculous prices. Speaking to Chi it was also apparent that the hotels etc keep 75% of the price, FOR WHAT! ringing up a local guide for you using their phone... scam.
Well any ways we set off towards the other side of the town away from all of the other tourists to a couple of villages before getting a moto back up the mountain to Sapa. It was really nice as it seemed that we were getting off the 'beaten track' and seeing some of the villages that other tourist don't go to. The morning started off a little dreary from the the low clouds that seemed to haunt Sapa during our stay, but soon enough we had dropped down low enough to evade them and boy what a sight. There were rice paddies everywhere on some pretty unbelievable slopes too! Well Chi led us right through the middle of them, walking along the paddy walls getting covered in the clayey mud, wet too. It was really good traveling with Chi as she had some much knowledge of the surrounding plants, she got me to scrub the plant in my palms which turned them indigo blue for 4 days! She also pointed out to us all of the hemp (which stank), tea and herbal remedy plants that they use for all their minor ailments. At the end of the trek we went to the local village where Chi cooked us up a lovely vegetable noodle soup before heading back up the mountain.
After getting a well needed shower we headed out to the local food stalls for some dinner and on the way we happened to pass quite possibly the coolest bar in Sapa. Artista Cafe owned by guy called Lhung, pronounced Hung with a low U and a G with your tongue held at the back of your throat. Anyhow Lhung brought us out a whole load of permanent markers for us to draw all over the stools and tables, cool huh! After a few beers and a chat with Lhung about his cafe, life and family etcetera he brought out what appeared to be a huge bamboo bong. I'd seen these all over Hanoi before but had never asked what they were, whackey backey or just plain old tobacco. As it turns out is tobacco, not just any plain old tobacco Black Hmong tobacco from the hill tribes around Sapa. You can guess where this is going, Lhung offered it to us to try and as I was the nearest to him I tried first; the guinea pig! MISTAKE! So Lhung lights the bong gets it going and passes the pipe over for me to try, well here goes I took a big old puff and WHOOOOAAAAAA I thought I was going to pass out, the biggest head rush! It was ridiculously strong tobacco I ended up coughing an spluttering all over the place belching smoke much to the amusement of everyone in the bar! Safe to say the next person took a much smaller puff!
Now here is for the really interesting part of my travels and this bit relates to the title of this post. We had heard from loads of travelers that the northern Vietnam/ Laos border crossing was the worst, and yes it was. At least it was an unforgettable experience!
The next day we wait for the bus, 1/2 hour late and already pretty packed with people! We thought that as the bus was full we were the last to be picked up, wrong, the driver managed to find space for 4 more people to get in! Okay so we start out and 10 minutes later we stop, whats going on, oh the drivers must be changing... no they decided it would be a good idea to light up a bong like the one i spoke of earlier and take a few chugs. It turns out that every 40 minutes the drivers decided to swap and smoke the whole time during the 10 hour slaughter to Dien Bien. On the way to Dien Bien we had to wait at two road blocks for landslides and a burst tyre! Although it was cramped and yes it was long this part of Vietnam is the most remote and has some of the best scenery which made it worthwhile. So we get to DBP stay the night and get up for the 05:30 bus the next morning to the Laos border. This border is in the middle of nowhere not a village in sight for miles just two grand border gates sitting atop adjacent mountains, pretty cool. We pass through with relative ease, a rarity, and make our way towards Muong Kiew. This took about 8 hours but no landslides this time just beautiful scenery. Rather disturbingly there is deforestation everywhere, slash and burn style, speaking to some people it appears that the Chinese have a hand here getting at all the timber out before anyone else!
Mong Kua, a nice riverside town of dainty little shacks. Well anyhow the bus drops us off right at the river edge and we have to get a small boat over to the other side before carrying on to the next stop.. Udomxai... a dump. Im glad that we only had one night here before getting a bus to Nong Kiew and a longtail boat to Muong Ngoi. The boat up the Nam On river to Muong Ngoi was interesting as its the rainy season out here the rivers are high and quite turbulent :S! Well Muong Ngoi is a nice little village, our shack was pretty cool looking over the river and mountains from the hammock. I spent the first day here just sitting in the hammock reading, bliss. The second day we trek up one of the local paths to a cave with a Israeli girl called Sharet. Luckily I bought my dive torch with me so that we could illuminate the whole darn cave! We went right inside so that when I turned the torch off it was pitch black, thinking now we would have been totally screwed if I'd ran out of power! A little further down the path we come across a few rice paddies and a small collection of villages, it raining pretty hard at this point so we decide to head back to the village for another afternoon in the hammock asleep.
After Moung Ngoi we got the boat/ bus to Louang Prabang but I'll save this town for my next blog with the elephant trekking tomorrow!
Adios Jared
Monday, 1 June 2009
Dead Unkle Ho, the night train and a wet wet Sapa!
Hello
This time from a rather wet Sapa, it seems to just rain here meaning that you can't see a damn thing!
Any how on our last day in Hanoi we though it would be a good idea to go and see good old Uncle Ho in his huge mausoleum! It was certainly interesting. We some how managed to enter the site via the tour/ pre booked appointments point. Before you even enter the site you have to hand your bag into security and walk through a metal detector! Any how we were in the line waiting to go through the detector and I got talking to a S Korean spacial needs teacher who was on a tour. They were all very nice and asked to have their photo's taken with us! Well as we walked through the detector towards the que, some 400m long, a guard gestured to us to return to the rear at which point the Korean spoke out and said that we were part of their tour group! This meant that we managed to get right to the front of the line, much to the disgust of the rest of the tourists in the line!
Telling the truth its not all that impressive [a sin to the Vietnamese] you get chaperoned through rather quickly just getting a short glance at Ho Chi Minh. The way it is set up with the lighting you would have no idea that the person was real, it looks like a wax figure at Madame Tussuad's. I can still say that I have seen Ho Chi Minh in the flesh!
After seeing Ho we went to another pagoda in Hanoi and then pretty much sat about for the rest of the day waiting for our train. The train is quite possibly the best way to travel long distances, so comfortable that I actually managed to get a full nights sleep!
Sapa, what a disappointment, not because of the town just for the pure fact that its constantly cloud shrouded! I can't see anything and these are meant to be the best mountain views in the whole of Vietnam! We ended up renting moto's and driving up the the highest pass in the country 1920m but just ended up getting totally soaked and not seeing anything. I did have tea in a shack with two hmong girls. Today I think we're going to walk down the valley and see if we can go to some of the villages.
Adios
Jared
This time from a rather wet Sapa, it seems to just rain here meaning that you can't see a damn thing!
Any how on our last day in Hanoi we though it would be a good idea to go and see good old Uncle Ho in his huge mausoleum! It was certainly interesting. We some how managed to enter the site via the tour/ pre booked appointments point. Before you even enter the site you have to hand your bag into security and walk through a metal detector! Any how we were in the line waiting to go through the detector and I got talking to a S Korean spacial needs teacher who was on a tour. They were all very nice and asked to have their photo's taken with us! Well as we walked through the detector towards the que, some 400m long, a guard gestured to us to return to the rear at which point the Korean spoke out and said that we were part of their tour group! This meant that we managed to get right to the front of the line, much to the disgust of the rest of the tourists in the line!
Telling the truth its not all that impressive [a sin to the Vietnamese] you get chaperoned through rather quickly just getting a short glance at Ho Chi Minh. The way it is set up with the lighting you would have no idea that the person was real, it looks like a wax figure at Madame Tussuad's. I can still say that I have seen Ho Chi Minh in the flesh!
After seeing Ho we went to another pagoda in Hanoi and then pretty much sat about for the rest of the day waiting for our train. The train is quite possibly the best way to travel long distances, so comfortable that I actually managed to get a full nights sleep!
Sapa, what a disappointment, not because of the town just for the pure fact that its constantly cloud shrouded! I can't see anything and these are meant to be the best mountain views in the whole of Vietnam! We ended up renting moto's and driving up the the highest pass in the country 1920m but just ended up getting totally soaked and not seeing anything. I did have tea in a shack with two hmong girls. Today I think we're going to walk down the valley and see if we can go to some of the villages.
Adios
Jared
Friday, 29 May 2009
A HUGE update as I am so far behind!
Hello All
Its been a while since I last updated so I am going to have to keep this one short otherwise I'd be writing an essay! I did try to update a few times in the past but the computer crashed so I lost all that I wrote!
Dalat to Hoi An via Nah Trang:
The bus from Dalat to Nah Trang was absolutely amazing right through the Central Highlands, the views were just like the Alps less the snow, plus a whole load of trees completelty covering the mountains. The road is IDEAL for a nice fast car or a motorbike, very new and wide sweeping corners!
After arriving in Nah Trang about midday we went straight to Sinh Cafe to book our tickets that night to Hoi An. After that Gilles and I decided to rent a moto and explore the local area. Unfortunately we ended up with a complete hump of junk... a Chinese moto. The gears did not work too well when changing and the steering was to be desired! Anyhow we ended up driving about 40 klicks to Bo Ho water falls, much nicer than those at Dalat, not as touristy a good little trek up through the river valley. They were also ideal for swimming in, although there was an absolutely massive spider on the rocks next to the water!
THe night bus to Nah Trang was alright, not the best seats in the world and they were not exactely designed for westiners, none the less they were more comfortable than a sitting bus. [think semi reclined seats like smaller beds]
Next up Hoi An - an altogether beautiful city. Its a world heritage sight meaning that all of the old buildings have to be retained in their current state and any rennovations have to be done to the exact standards of the old. Though walking around for the day was very nice we did fry as it was the hottest day so far! For the afternoon we decided to rent cycles and head to the beach. That evening was Gilles birthday so we headed out to a nice restaurant and he ended up treating all of us to a meal and some Vietnamese wine [not as bad as you would think, like a french red]
The next day we rented cycles once more and took a ferry to Cat Kim island (an eyte really in the middle of the river. The island was quite nice, no tourists but bloody hot again! It seems to be an island wholly dedicated to the production of reed mats, which was interesting. This time it was Tom's birthday so again we headed out to a nice restaurant and had a few beers, although this time we had to pay!
That evening we also decided to rent moto's as we though it would be a good idea to head out to some ruins called My Son before our afternoon bus to Hue. We got up at 4:45 and left at about 5:15, so so early! It was only meant to take us about an hour to get there but we took a wrong turning and ended up going the long way round taking more like 1:45 mins! What was really cool was that we were the first tourists up there apart from a smattering of the local artists getting up early to paint. The ruins were quite an amazing sight, to think that there were built nearly 1000 years ago!
Hue - Dong Hoi - Hanoi
That afternoon we took the bus to Hue and I soon realised why the company we went with was the cheapest in town, not the best ride a little hot and sticky as the AC was not too effective!
We only ended up staying one day in Hue as there is only one real sight and that is the old Citadel. We ended up walking around it for about 4 hours! Very interesting, asian architecture is quite amazing, how on earth did they build what they did when they did!
The next afternoon we got our first train in Vietnam to Dong Hoi! Very interesting; we decided to go for the hard seats as it was the cheapest and its how all the locals travel. When you see documentaries like Michale Palin in India, just think about those trains and you have the perfect picture in your head! I had one guy sleeping on the floor under the seat by my legs!
Dong Hoi was okay not the nicest town but not the worst. We were only using it really as a gateway to Vinh Moc tunnels and Phong Nha cave (oldest in Asia, and some brits recently unearthed another larger cave which might be the largest in the world!). The first day we spent going to the beach and trying to sort out a taxi to both the cave and the tunnels, however whenever we asked someone they said it was only possible to see one of the sights and that if you wanted to see both you'd have to spend two days (which we could not do). I rather regrettably had to chose between the tunnels and the cave. I went for the cave as it was another world heritage sight.
That evening we ended up in the street bar across from the hotel and ended up having a whail of time! Gilles, Tom and I ended up drink far too much with some local lads who paid for it all. They even drove us on their motos for a late night Pho Bo (beef soup). Excellent evening that I'll never forget. One of the lads was also a taxi driver who took us to the caves the next day for a good price.
The cave I must admit was very impressive, I have never seen anything so big in my life it look about 20 minutes in a boat just to reach the back of the cave! Again I cant really describe it, just massive full of features, look it up on the internet Phong Nha Cave.
After finishing at the cave we headed back to our hotel to pick up our bags and head to the bus pickup point before we headed to Hanoi. It was at this point that it became very apparent that it was easy enought o see both the caves and the tunnels if you got up early enough, so i am a bit gutted that i did not see the tunnels, it just means that I am going to have to come back to Vietnam again to see them!
On that point this is one of my pet hates about Vietnam, everyone seems to be onyl interested in helping you our if there is the thought of some money at the end of it!
Nearly done!
The night bus to Hanoi was really lucky as it was mostly empty so we ended up getting two beds each across the back of the bus making for a good nights sleep!
best night bus so far, not full so ended up having two beds on the back.
and finally:
Hanoi and Halong Bay
We arrived in Hanoi at about 5:30 in the morning and headed straight for the hotel which seemed to get good reviews, it was not even open yet! we had to get the night guard to let us in.
We pretty much dropped our bags off had showers gave our washing in and headed out to the city to walk around. Hanoi is a really nice city, lots of character to it, loads of old French colonial buildings about. We also spent this day sorting out our Laos visas and trying to find a company to visit Halong Bay with, which in itself took half of the day up! In the end we went with our hotel which was a good idea.
Our first evening in Hanoi we went to some the of most infamous bars in town. Bia Hoi Ha Noi! A local brew produced daily shipped to the local bars and sold for a measly sum of 30p per glass! Makes for a good evening!
The next morning we got up pretty early and headed to Halong Bay....AMAZING! We got there had lunch on the boat whilst we headed out to the bay of some 1969 limestone karst islands. Its one of the most beaultiful places that I have evere seen. Unfortunately it is one, if not the biggest tourist attraction in Vietnam, but still worth the crowds to go an sail around. In the afternoon we stopped off next to a floating village donned some life vests and were let loose in some kayaks to paddle around the bay for 40 minutes or so. This was really cool going right up to sheer cliffs into semi submerged caves and through floating villages! The evening we anchored up and started jumping off the boat for a bit of a swim. Today we sailed back to Halong City to get the bus back to Hanoi and here I am 1519 words later siging off to go to sleep.
Boy that was a marathon essay. Hopefully I'll not have too much of these!
Tomorrow were going to see Ho Chi Minh in the morning and then take a night bus to Sapa.
Adios will update once in Laos I suspect in about 3days time.
Jared
Its been a while since I last updated so I am going to have to keep this one short otherwise I'd be writing an essay! I did try to update a few times in the past but the computer crashed so I lost all that I wrote!
Dalat to Hoi An via Nah Trang:
The bus from Dalat to Nah Trang was absolutely amazing right through the Central Highlands, the views were just like the Alps less the snow, plus a whole load of trees completelty covering the mountains. The road is IDEAL for a nice fast car or a motorbike, very new and wide sweeping corners!
After arriving in Nah Trang about midday we went straight to Sinh Cafe to book our tickets that night to Hoi An. After that Gilles and I decided to rent a moto and explore the local area. Unfortunately we ended up with a complete hump of junk... a Chinese moto. The gears did not work too well when changing and the steering was to be desired! Anyhow we ended up driving about 40 klicks to Bo Ho water falls, much nicer than those at Dalat, not as touristy a good little trek up through the river valley. They were also ideal for swimming in, although there was an absolutely massive spider on the rocks next to the water!
THe night bus to Nah Trang was alright, not the best seats in the world and they were not exactely designed for westiners, none the less they were more comfortable than a sitting bus. [think semi reclined seats like smaller beds]
Next up Hoi An - an altogether beautiful city. Its a world heritage sight meaning that all of the old buildings have to be retained in their current state and any rennovations have to be done to the exact standards of the old. Though walking around for the day was very nice we did fry as it was the hottest day so far! For the afternoon we decided to rent cycles and head to the beach. That evening was Gilles birthday so we headed out to a nice restaurant and he ended up treating all of us to a meal and some Vietnamese wine [not as bad as you would think, like a french red]
The next day we rented cycles once more and took a ferry to Cat Kim island (an eyte really in the middle of the river. The island was quite nice, no tourists but bloody hot again! It seems to be an island wholly dedicated to the production of reed mats, which was interesting. This time it was Tom's birthday so again we headed out to a nice restaurant and had a few beers, although this time we had to pay!
That evening we also decided to rent moto's as we though it would be a good idea to head out to some ruins called My Son before our afternoon bus to Hue. We got up at 4:45 and left at about 5:15, so so early! It was only meant to take us about an hour to get there but we took a wrong turning and ended up going the long way round taking more like 1:45 mins! What was really cool was that we were the first tourists up there apart from a smattering of the local artists getting up early to paint. The ruins were quite an amazing sight, to think that there were built nearly 1000 years ago!
Hue - Dong Hoi - Hanoi
That afternoon we took the bus to Hue and I soon realised why the company we went with was the cheapest in town, not the best ride a little hot and sticky as the AC was not too effective!
We only ended up staying one day in Hue as there is only one real sight and that is the old Citadel. We ended up walking around it for about 4 hours! Very interesting, asian architecture is quite amazing, how on earth did they build what they did when they did!
The next afternoon we got our first train in Vietnam to Dong Hoi! Very interesting; we decided to go for the hard seats as it was the cheapest and its how all the locals travel. When you see documentaries like Michale Palin in India, just think about those trains and you have the perfect picture in your head! I had one guy sleeping on the floor under the seat by my legs!
Dong Hoi was okay not the nicest town but not the worst. We were only using it really as a gateway to Vinh Moc tunnels and Phong Nha cave (oldest in Asia, and some brits recently unearthed another larger cave which might be the largest in the world!). The first day we spent going to the beach and trying to sort out a taxi to both the cave and the tunnels, however whenever we asked someone they said it was only possible to see one of the sights and that if you wanted to see both you'd have to spend two days (which we could not do). I rather regrettably had to chose between the tunnels and the cave. I went for the cave as it was another world heritage sight.
That evening we ended up in the street bar across from the hotel and ended up having a whail of time! Gilles, Tom and I ended up drink far too much with some local lads who paid for it all. They even drove us on their motos for a late night Pho Bo (beef soup). Excellent evening that I'll never forget. One of the lads was also a taxi driver who took us to the caves the next day for a good price.
The cave I must admit was very impressive, I have never seen anything so big in my life it look about 20 minutes in a boat just to reach the back of the cave! Again I cant really describe it, just massive full of features, look it up on the internet Phong Nha Cave.
After finishing at the cave we headed back to our hotel to pick up our bags and head to the bus pickup point before we headed to Hanoi. It was at this point that it became very apparent that it was easy enought o see both the caves and the tunnels if you got up early enough, so i am a bit gutted that i did not see the tunnels, it just means that I am going to have to come back to Vietnam again to see them!
On that point this is one of my pet hates about Vietnam, everyone seems to be onyl interested in helping you our if there is the thought of some money at the end of it!
Nearly done!
The night bus to Hanoi was really lucky as it was mostly empty so we ended up getting two beds each across the back of the bus making for a good nights sleep!
best night bus so far, not full so ended up having two beds on the back.
and finally:
Hanoi and Halong Bay
We arrived in Hanoi at about 5:30 in the morning and headed straight for the hotel which seemed to get good reviews, it was not even open yet! we had to get the night guard to let us in.
We pretty much dropped our bags off had showers gave our washing in and headed out to the city to walk around. Hanoi is a really nice city, lots of character to it, loads of old French colonial buildings about. We also spent this day sorting out our Laos visas and trying to find a company to visit Halong Bay with, which in itself took half of the day up! In the end we went with our hotel which was a good idea.
Our first evening in Hanoi we went to some the of most infamous bars in town. Bia Hoi Ha Noi! A local brew produced daily shipped to the local bars and sold for a measly sum of 30p per glass! Makes for a good evening!
The next morning we got up pretty early and headed to Halong Bay....AMAZING! We got there had lunch on the boat whilst we headed out to the bay of some 1969 limestone karst islands. Its one of the most beaultiful places that I have evere seen. Unfortunately it is one, if not the biggest tourist attraction in Vietnam, but still worth the crowds to go an sail around. In the afternoon we stopped off next to a floating village donned some life vests and were let loose in some kayaks to paddle around the bay for 40 minutes or so. This was really cool going right up to sheer cliffs into semi submerged caves and through floating villages! The evening we anchored up and started jumping off the boat for a bit of a swim. Today we sailed back to Halong City to get the bus back to Hanoi and here I am 1519 words later siging off to go to sleep.
Boy that was a marathon essay. Hopefully I'll not have too much of these!
Tomorrow were going to see Ho Chi Minh in the morning and then take a night bus to Sapa.
Adios will update once in Laos I suspect in about 3days time.
Jared
Wednesday, 20 May 2009
Mui Ne and Dalat on the Moto!
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
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
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
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