Sydney - Canada - UK - HK - Taiwan - Thailand - Vietnam - Sydney
Flew back to Sydney at 7am on Jan 29 and was at my desk at 9am a bit tired but glad to be back home!!!!
Thursday, February 1, 2007
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Halong Bay - 3 day 2 night boat/hotel trip
Halong Bay is a World Heritage site and one of the natural wonders of Vietnam and has thousands of islands rising out of the sea. 'Halong' means where dragons descend into the sea. Trips to here are big business and in the old quarter you cannot miss travel agent signs to visit this place. This time of the year is the low season since it's a bit cold and a bit cloudy. Great for me since I don't mind the absence of people, am not planning on sunbathing and don't mind swimming in cold water. (A years membership of winter swimming at Bondi icebergs saw to that!)
It's actually half a day drive from Hanoi to Halong City to catch our boat but we have a great guide in Sinh who speaks English very well. Some of the Germans in our group find it hard but us native English speakers can understand him fine. I find out from him that I've been mispronouncing the Vietnamese 'Pho' dish wrong too. It's more like 'fur'.
The boat trip is very well organised and I'm sharing the trip with mainly German/British/Japanese/Dutch/Canadians although we briefly meet some Singaporeans.
We get to spend one night on the boat and one night in a hotel in Cat Ba island where we also do some hiking. We also get to do some kayaking and explore some caves. It seems I am the only one doing any swimming on this trip.
The last photo are the hardcore who I managed to persuade to come out for a drink to celebrate Australia day. Apparently I have to celebrate German day on October 2nd now too!
Here are the photos!
Hanoi - Almost as crazy as Ho Chi Minh
I had booked my hotel from Hoi Ann and asked them to pick me up from the airport. Again a first for me was someone with a sign with my name on it appearing at the airport to pick me up. Well disappointingly, it didn't happen. Even with my passport in front of her, somehow my name didn't transfer correctly to the hotel and then to the taxi driver since although my hotel was there, my name wasn't. This was a bit worrying since there's a scam where operators setup hotels with the same name as those in the guidebooks and then take you there and overcharge you. Since my hotel was first on the list, I was thinking that they probably post people at the airport every day especially since the name on the card seemed to be made up. Anyway with map of hotel in my hand I went with this guy to the hotel and we arrived at the right one which didn't have any reservation for me!
My hotel was in the old quarter of town where most tourists stay and of course where most street hawkers are. The street names here reflect what is being sold here. Picked up some new walking shoes for US$20. Fed up with the busy streets I made my way to the central lake that has a temple in the middle connected by a bridge for some crowd respite and found many other people sitting there relaxing too.
I wanted to get around town and after walking around the town for a while I thought I'd up the pace a bit by hiring one of the many cyclo's or motorbike taxis around. For a few dollars these guys will give you a guided tour around the city. It's best to pick one that speaks good English though.
I started off with a cyclo but after visiting the Temple of Literature I found that my cyclo driver had disappeared.
I got the impression that tourist hotspots are 'owned' by certain drivers and he must have been driven away by a mean looking man who was offering me a bike taxi just where I was expecting to find my cyclo man. In the end I walked away and hired another motorcycle taxi guy to zoom me around the sights. I wasn't that interested in doing the tourist hotspots but more interested in just touring around to get a feel for the city.
At the end of my tour my driver invited me to go and have Bai Hoy which is fresh beer . He ordered some snacks to go with it and I was a bit worried when he couldn't explain what this meat wrapped in banana leaf was since I know in Vietnam they eat dog! Check out my tour pictures of the One Pillar Pagoda, Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and pagodas before we sit down for a beer! Note how three people on a scooter isn't all that uncommon!
Temperature in Hanoi is a lot cooler than Ho Chi Minh/Saigon.
My hotel was in the old quarter of town where most tourists stay and of course where most street hawkers are. The street names here reflect what is being sold here. Picked up some new walking shoes for US$20. Fed up with the busy streets I made my way to the central lake that has a temple in the middle connected by a bridge for some crowd respite and found many other people sitting there relaxing too.
I wanted to get around town and after walking around the town for a while I thought I'd up the pace a bit by hiring one of the many cyclo's or motorbike taxis around. For a few dollars these guys will give you a guided tour around the city. It's best to pick one that speaks good English though.
I started off with a cyclo but after visiting the Temple of Literature I found that my cyclo driver had disappeared.
I got the impression that tourist hotspots are 'owned' by certain drivers and he must have been driven away by a mean looking man who was offering me a bike taxi just where I was expecting to find my cyclo man. In the end I walked away and hired another motorcycle taxi guy to zoom me around the sights. I wasn't that interested in doing the tourist hotspots but more interested in just touring around to get a feel for the city.
At the end of my tour my driver invited me to go and have Bai Hoy which is fresh beer . He ordered some snacks to go with it and I was a bit worried when he couldn't explain what this meat wrapped in banana leaf was since I know in Vietnam they eat dog! Check out my tour pictures of the One Pillar Pagoda, Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and pagodas before we sit down for a beer! Note how three people on a scooter isn't all that uncommon!
Temperature in Hanoi is a lot cooler than Ho Chi Minh/Saigon.
Fly Danang - Hanoi business class
Although I was ahead in getting my clothes made and getting on the popular cooking class, I was a bit late in booking my transport out of Hoi Ann. I knew that the train would be an 18hour trip and since I didn't have much time I decided to fly Danang - Hanoi so I ask the receptionist to book me a flight. She told me that they were all booked and they only had business class left. How much extra was it - US$20? She was amazed I think went ahead and booked it since I guess that is almost half a months salary for most local people rather than the average hourly rate of an office support temp working here in Australia. Makes you feel lucky since I know we're not any smarter human beings than people there or anywhere else in the world. Again, in a number of years I am sure they will catch up.
I realised that as I sat in my comfy wide seat on the flight that I'd never flown business class before - only economy or first class (where I'd been upgraded by the airline or by myself). Not sure what all the fuss is about but I guess if you're flying all the time then it's nice to have a bit more room to move around I guess.
I realised that as I sat in my comfy wide seat on the flight that I'd never flown business class before - only economy or first class (where I'd been upgraded by the airline or by myself). Not sure what all the fuss is about but I guess if you're flying all the time then it's nice to have a bit more room to move around I guess.
Pretty Hoi Ann and Vietnamese cooking class
Hoi Ann is the must-see list of anyone going to Vietnam. It's a small place so you can walk around it. My hotel was on the outskirts but I was down by the river in less than 10 minutes which has the famous Japanese bridge.
Lots of beautiful artwork is for sale but the town is also famed for having a tailor on every street corner. You can get custom fitted clothes made for you at the fraction of the price it will cost back home. Of course I had heard this from a number of travellers going from North to South and so I was ready to get in there asap since I knew I was going to be there only 2 days and they need time to make final adjustments. To cut a long story short I think I paid US$350 to get 2 x Suits (with 2 pairs of trousers each) and 6 shirts and 3 casual trousers/pants and 1 x 3/4 length trousers/pants - Bargain!
The other thing you can do here is do a Vietnamese cooking class where you go the markets first and get the ingredients explained and what to look for and then you get a boat ride to the place where you are going to get the cooking demonstration from the chef.
The chef is pretty funny and has a mirror behind him so you can see what he does and then you have your own cooking station to try and do it yourself. After that you then sit down to eat the same meal you cooked (they cook it though!). All this for US$15 - great value.
These are some of the dishes I made....
Even made the rice paper for these from scratch!
9 hour train to Danang and then straight to Hoi Ann
Caught the 5am train out of Nha Trang to Danang arriving at 2pm. I actually booked a sleeper so I can sleep for a while before being able to look out of the window to see the countryside. There are a lot of people working in paddy fields as you can imagine.
The other advantage of taking this train was that I got served breakfast and lunch. This is breakfast.
The added bonus was that I was in my compartment with a friendly local businessman who learnt English many years ago. He still spoke quite well and I got to find out a bit more about life in Vietnam for the locals. On average I think local people make US$50/month but he made US$200/month. I was a bit embarrassed to tell him my salary but it's easy to see why there's not a flood of Vietnamese tourists coming here. I am sure that the average income will rise rapidly in years to come as Vietnam adopts more and more the capitalist rather than the socialist economic principals. Personally I like the principles of the latter but have to admit the former seems to work better. However I am still in favour of a mixed economy practiced in the UK/Australia so we have health care and a safety net for the very poor.
We are about to have our lunch.
After arriving in Danang there is a swarm of taxi drivers and groups of tourists all wanting to get to pretty and historic Hoi Ann (since Danang is mainly an industrial city). Taxi drivers want to get the best price and us tourists club together to get the cheapest deal. Finally get a taxi with two Italian guys for the 30min and we each pay 60000Dong (US$4 or A$5). He proceeds to take us not where we want to go but to a hotel where he will get commission. It's such a nice place and I'm only staying 2 nights I decide to stay for US$18 a night which includes breakfast and free internet access (which never seems to work!). The italians want to go to another hotel where the price is US$8/night.
The other advantage of taking this train was that I got served breakfast and lunch. This is breakfast.
The added bonus was that I was in my compartment with a friendly local businessman who learnt English many years ago. He still spoke quite well and I got to find out a bit more about life in Vietnam for the locals. On average I think local people make US$50/month but he made US$200/month. I was a bit embarrassed to tell him my salary but it's easy to see why there's not a flood of Vietnamese tourists coming here. I am sure that the average income will rise rapidly in years to come as Vietnam adopts more and more the capitalist rather than the socialist economic principals. Personally I like the principles of the latter but have to admit the former seems to work better. However I am still in favour of a mixed economy practiced in the UK/Australia so we have health care and a safety net for the very poor.
We are about to have our lunch.
After arriving in Danang there is a swarm of taxi drivers and groups of tourists all wanting to get to pretty and historic Hoi Ann (since Danang is mainly an industrial city). Taxi drivers want to get the best price and us tourists club together to get the cheapest deal. Finally get a taxi with two Italian guys for the 30min and we each pay 60000Dong (US$4 or A$5). He proceeds to take us not where we want to go but to a hotel where he will get commission. It's such a nice place and I'm only staying 2 nights I decide to stay for US$18 a night which includes breakfast and free internet access (which never seems to work!). The italians want to go to another hotel where the price is US$8/night.
Nha Trang beach town
In order to get away from hectic big city of Saigon I headed north on a overnight sleeper (left at 8pm arrived 6am) to Nha Trang. After checking into the Perfume hotel, I decided to have a relaxing day on the beach reading this 2nd hand book. I got my water and a spot under the shade and was prepared for relaxation. If you like full service then this is the place to come since without lifting a finger someone will be round selling you books/drinks/food/lighters/souvenirs/massage etc etc.
The next day I was signed up for a full day on a boat going to the local islands which included snorkelling, lunch, karaoke on the boat and the opportunity to do jet boating/parascending. Most of the people on the boat were Vietnamese but with my language skills I ended up talking to Barney (from Chicago living in Korea teaching English), two Quebecois women and a couple of guys from Turkey (who run a travel agency back home).
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