Some recent changes:
So much to do, so little time…
I will be travelling around South East Asia for the next month, so having access to a computer will not always be easy. If I do find a computer to add entries and upload a couple of pictures I’d be a happy chappy.
I have heard that internet connections are not always the fastest where I’m headed, so I have decided that the only thing I will log onto is my site.
Sifting through all the spam using my webmail account, while on holidays is not my idea of fun. At least I get less spam through my blog.
Anyway, if you have any messages you’d like to leave me, then you can post them here.
Finally, time kick back and have a nice tropical holiday. I will be leaving tonight! Hopefully I remember to pack everything that I need. Yes…I haven’t packed yet, but I’m sure it shouldn’t take that long to pack right? 
Anyway, time to get some shut-eye!
Had a relatively uneventful flight from Melbourne to Bangkok flying Thai Airways, the transit point. I managed to sleep for about 2 hours during the 8 hour flight, before being awoken by some turbulence. I think we were flying through some tropical storm, because I could see lightening flashes here and there.
Got to Bangkok airport at around 6am. My transit flight to Hanoi was supposed to have been at 5:15pm. Yay. I wasn’t looking forward to waiting for my next flight for 11 hours in the airport lounge.
Luckily, they managed to find me a spot on an earlier flight at 7:50am. So I was grateful for that. They said they would arrange for my luggage to be moved to that earlier flight too.
The flight to Hanoi took about an hour, with most people on board being Hanoi locals and many German (Dutch?) tourists.
Check in was ok, albeit a bit slow, but in my zombie state I didn’t care much. Then came the baggage claim…or lack of it, as was the case for me.
I stood there waiting until the last piece of baggage came out of the chute, followed by the baggage handler(!), announcing the fact.
I kept thinking about “Meeting the Parents”.
Anyway, apparently I wasn’t the only one with missing luggage. Quite a few people bee-lined for the lost-and-found counter. I think the attentdant hadn’t seen so many people come to the counter in one go before, because I could hear him calling for backup.
After the formalities, the rest is history, as they say.
Now I’m at the Hotel Holidays Hanoi, minus all my clothing, climbing gear and phone/camera accessories. Woot!
I have to wait for a reply from the airport about my luggage. Hopefully, before I leave Hanoi!
Well, worse could have happened. Time to enjoy the rest of my trip and maybe do some planning to buy some new clothes to wear…
[Trip Map]
Last night we went out for a bit of dinner at a local restaurant our guide recommended.
While walking up the stairs to the restaurant we passed jars filled with goanas, snakes lizards and other things you’d normally pickle.
Dinner composed of stewed rabbit, spring roll and garlic beef. The garlic beef wasn’t too bad. We drank Tiger Beer, but one of the girls in our group had a taste of rice wine whcih one of the locals insisted she try. I think she mumbled something about paint thinners afterwards.
The walk to and from the restaurant, or anywhere that involves major intersections is always a rush. It’s like surfing, where you have to choose the right wave, in this case it’s waves of traffic!
After getting back to the hotel I was contemplating my luggage problem. I decided I was going to buy my clothes and everything I’d packed in that bag today. I was guessing with all the Tet preparations happening over here, with this being the Lunar New Year today I was not going to see my luggage for another week at least, if ever.
As luck would have it, they managed to find my luggage and it should get to the hotel by 10am-11am. I might not have it for Ha Long Bay (Bay of the Descending Dragon), but I should have it by the time I get back. Woot!
Anyway, this morning we got up and met at 6am to go have a look at Lenin Square where many of the older folk go for their daily exercise. On the way we passed a couple of men having a few beers(!) before work. I took a couple of pictures at the square, with some of the group joining in with the Taichi-Aerobics class, to the tune of Chinese opera. It was an experience.
BTW I can’t reply to any comments yet, since the internet access here blocks the verification images for comments. So maybe later.
[Trip Map]
Yesterday we left for Ha Long Bay. The drive took us about 1-2 hours. Ha Long Bay is about 180 kms from the Chinese border. Our tour leader having worked in China previously commented on how the place reminded him of China: the architecture, the way people dressed, just the feeling in general.
We had a boat all to ourselves and boarded with great excitement. The weather in Ha Long Bay this time of the year is quite misty, so we saw the distant limestone islands through layers of mist, similar to what you’d see in the water colour paintings of the region.
We set off at noon to visit a large cave formation that was discovered in the early 1900’s. The trip there took about 1 hour. We had lunch on board consisting of king prawns, bean curd, fried calamari, deep fried pepper pork with rice, washed down with Tiger Beer.
After lunch we had a couple more beers on the top deck, before arriving at the caves. The formation consisted of 3 big caves, and when I say big, I mean huge. Lights had been set up inside the caves, and we wandered along a path that wound around the formation.
After the caves we boarded the boat for another island that had would provide us with a great view of the bay. Along the way we passed a couple of floating villages. Because UNESCO has declared Ha Long Bay a world heritage site, these people have been moved onto these floating platforms. Apparently they will then be relocated to a settlement somewhere on the mainland in the future.
Finally we reached the island with the lookout. After barging through all the other boats parked there (Ice-breaker style! Did I mention that these were triple storey boats, with 6 twin share rooms and 1 dining room?), we disembarked and began the climb up to the lookout. I think I nearly passed out by the time I reached the top. I was also thinking about the fact I only had the clothes on my back and I’d probably stinking!
I have to admit the view was spectacular. We had a 360 degree view of the bay through a light mist, with all the islands surrounding us. Very picturesque.
The climb down was just as entertaining, with the risk of my legs giving way from under me. We were the last group to leave the island for our next stop…the middle of the bay to spend the night there, right onboard!
Dusk was falling while we took the short boat ride there. All across the water I could see lights from other boats and a distant shoreline. Combined with the smell of diesel from the boat, it brought back memories from when I was a kid on a similar boat, but on a different journey.
We had dinner onboard, again washed down with Tiger Beer. 
Then we adjourned to top deck to relax. It was an experience to be on a boat in the middle Ha Long Bay at dusk with all these limestone formations jutting out of the water all around you. I highly recommend it!
Anyway, I don’t know if it was the lack of sleep, or the climb up to the lookout, or the beer, but I crashed quite early. We all had twin share berths, and would you believe it, but mine was on top of the engine bay.
The next morning we cruised back to Ha Long town and headed back to Ha Noi. The ride back was relatively uneventful, but I was glad to be greated by my luggage!
It is hard to describe Ha Long Bay the way I saw it, but all I can say is it was awesome.
[Trip Map]
After returning from Ha Long Bay, we had lunch at a dodgy restaurant that served us everything we didn’t ask for. The only thing that is worth mentioning is the beer, which they brew themselves.
Then we had some free time before the lead up to New Year celebrations, so I went back and had quick nap to catch up on some sleep.
That night we were also scheduled to see the famous water puppets. We all walked West Lake where the theater was located.
The audience consisted of mostly foreign tourists. The show began with an introduction about the water puppets, followed by the appearance of the puppets.
They were quite ingenious and entertaining. The music played using traditional Vietnamese instruments, helped set the mood for the puppets.
It was hard to follow the story if you didn’t have someone explain each scene to us, but it was enjoyable nonetheless.
After the show we were in party mode, because…
…it was New Years Eve again! The mood was more like Christmas though, with most people going home to their families to welcome in the New Lunar Year (of the Rooster).
Everywhere you went, people were buying cumquat trees as you would buy Christmas trees. Cumquat trees were meant to bring in good fortune for the coming year.
A lot of cleaning up was going on. Everyone was washing their scooters, bikes, cars, sweeping the house, sweeping the streets. They want to start the New Year fresh, on a new slate.
All around the lake there were thousands of people. There was a stage set up at one end of the lake where a show was staged. There was a trapeze act going when we walked past.
As the time got close to midnight, it started to get very crowded. There were just thousands of people (with their scooters, so there was plenty of honking).
The fireworks show started exactly at midnight following a 10 second countdown by the crowd. Then the crowd exploded to welcome in the New Year. I think the Australians were the most vocal, with some interesting chants, which I’m sure could have had us arrested.
At the end of the show, which lasted 20 minutes or so, we went to the Funky Munky bar/club. The beer was free flowing, with many hosts darting to and fro taking orders, and relieving us of our dollars. Suffice to say, the night was filled with much merriment!
[Trip Map]
New Years Day was vegetable day. That is, I was the vegie. A hang over was an understatement. I slept in till noon.
I spent the day walking around Ha Noi city. Because it was the Lunar New Year, I wanted to find out what it was like at a pagoda.
I visited a turtle pagoda on West Lake in the city. There were many street vendors in the city, and the streets were filled with people. Many people looked like they were preparing a trip to see their relatives.
It was a nice day and the sun was out (finally, since Ha Noi at this time of year is generally a bit overcast).
I did a lap of the lake, took a few pictures, went to the ATM then relaxed on one of the benches surrounding the lake. Very peaceful, if you could shut out the constant beeping from the mopeds BTW It is a road law to beep when over-taking!).
I’d found a little pho shop on my way to the lake and went back there to have to pho. The pho was good. It was called Pho24, or something like that. There’s a chain of them in Saigon, but only one in Ha Noi.
I then plan to go the St Joseph’s Cathedral for a couple of pictures, but after walking around the whole city for about an hour and still not finding the place, I decided to head back to the hotel to prepare for the train ride to Hue, on the Reunification Express.
Note
This entry and subsequent entries will be delayed, because the Internet here is very slow! It takes about 1-2 minutes for a page to load, if at all! I just hope I can remember everything. I will probably go back and make changes here and there as I remember more.
[Trip Map]
At around 7pm we prepared to check out of our hotel and make our way to the station for the trip to Hue.
We walked from the hotel to the station. It’s funny how on the first day I’d arrived in Ha Noi I’d got lost after being dropped off, but now all the streets around the hotel were so familiar.
We boarded the train around 9:30pm. I was in a sleeper (soft) with 3 other people. There were four classes on the train. Seats (hard), seats (soft), sleeper (hard) and sleeper (soft).
The trip lasts about 11 hours and I am glad that I was in the sleeper (soft) section, because the other three options were…hard.
After the train departed the station everyone decided to cram into our cabin for some card games. As for me, being the spoil sport that I was, I opted for some snooze time. Walking around Ha Noi the whole day with a slight hang over from the previous night’s revelry caught up with me.
The train got to Hue late morning the next day. The hotel we stayed at was situated by the banks of the Perfume River (Song Huong). The rooms were quite spacious and the hotel deserves another half a star on top of it’s three star rating I think.
The afternoon was spent settling into the new hotel. Dinner was on the top level of the hotel which overlooked the river and the surrounding area. Very nice.
The trip to Hue wasn’t too eventful (since I was sleeping), but the hotel and what was planned for the next day looked promising.
[Trip Map]
We walked to Dong Ba Market, which was just 10 minutes from where we stayed. Unfortunately, since it was Tet, the market was closed.
So, the next option was to hire a cyclo to take us to some of the pagodas in the area. Looking on the map that the hotel gave us, Thien Mu Pagoda looked like the go, so off we went. 30,000 dong for about 2 hours (we got ripped off I reckon, but it was only $2 so it wasn’t too bad if you look at it that way).
The journey there was slow, but quite a novel way to travel. We got to see more of the city and the people going about their daily business. It’s amazing how these cyclo drivers can peddle us around, us being not as slight as the locals, and yet they are all quite small guys.
Thien Mu Pagoda is situated at a bend on the banks of the Perfume River. Looking down from the pagoda you can see all the boats coming and going ferrying people up and down the river.
We spent some time taking photos in and around the pagoda before hurrying back to the waiting cyclos, since we had another appointment in the afternoon.
We were running late, so the drivers put a bit more pace in their peddling. I must have been heavier than everyone else, or my driver didn’t have breakfast, cause he was having trouble keeping up with the others.
Anyway we hooned back to the hotel so we could make our appointment with the masseuse.
The massage wasn’t very gentle I can tell you. I think every pressure point on my body was pressed, and no we didn’t ask for any ‘extras’.
After the massage we all paid our masseuse and staggered back to our hotels.
Next stop was the Imperial Citadel. We had an English speaking guide take us there on an air-conditioned bus.
(More to come…)
[Trip Map]
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