Vietnam Part 3: Hoi An to Nha Trang

I arrived in Da Nang late, joined a group of fellow travellers (2 couples from the UK) and shared a taxi to the ancient city of Hoi An. Hoi An is a quaint city, nestled in the Central region of Vietnam. It's the home to an old imperial city and a myriad of tailors.



My first objective was to find a tailor to cook up some clothes for me. Easily done, there were approx 20 tailors to each street ie. plenty to chose from. After some very sweaty attempts at trying clothes on ( trying winter clothes in 30C heat is NOT a good combination!), I settled from a few suits, a winter jacket and a dress ... all to be posted home using seamail (I know, playing with fire!). They will hopefully arrive by the time i need to start interviewing for jobs at home. Fingers crossed.

I met some rather interesting people in Hoi An. I shared a room with an english couple, who after one night, decided to not be a couple or rather to reach the "it's complicated" stage. I was then left in the middle, relaying information to the one then the other. An initially awkward situation, which turned out to be rather entertaining.

I also met up with some old friends from Central America. I finally caught up with an Irish couple who I had travelled with from Guatemela to Costa Rica in October last year. They are also reaching the end of their trip and I foresee that we will be spending a fair bit of time together over the coming weeks. Cool :)

I left Hoi An soon enough, having sent my boxes home and quickly growing tired of the constant pressure to buy photocopied books/chinese lanterns / TShirts / Cards/ Kleenex/ Water ... you name it...all at inflated prices.



I boarded a night bus to Nha Trang - which in itself was an interesting experience. I had heard of these "sleeper" buses - fitted with 3 rows of narrow bunk beds and cruising at high speed over numberous potholes whith music blaring and neon disco lights to add to the experience. An experience only valium could make pleasurable.







Nha Trang is described as the home of Vietnam's best beaches - a gross overstatement in my eyes. I arrived early enough to witness families soaking up the morning sun, undertaking their daily exercise routine on the beach. The beach was rather beautiful but this impression dissipated as I began to see garbage floating on the beach or people washing their clothes. I guess we are spoilt in Europe.







I also wanted to see for myself if Nha Trang could live up to its reputation as Vietnam's best dive sites. I had two dives to figure it out. The first dive was average, visibility was low, coral dead in parts and very little fish. The second dive was a lot better, huge coral reefs, colourful fish and a few small caves made for a fun dive.

Verdict: Remember that it's fun to dive even when you can't see much!

Laos - Luang Prabang - Vang Vieng - Ventiane

What can you say about Laos?



Despite being one of SE Asia's poorest countries (by far), it has a peaceful quality to it.

It's chilled.

Relaxed.

So much that SE Asia is not anymore.

I flew from Hanoi to the northern city of Luang Prabang (LP for short). LP is located on the Mekong River and used to be the ancient capital of the Kingdom of Laos until the communist took over in 1975.



Rather surprisingly, LP boast small streets, fashionable coffee houses (no Starbucks, but who needs it here! The coffee is ace!), Buddhist temples, a night market, the Mekong River and most importantly French Baguette and Vache Qui Rit (for less that 1 USD!).



I stayed in an awesome hostel called SpicyLao. The vibe was amazing. As I arrived, people were playing badmington, everyone smiled, said hello ... made me feel welcome straight away.

The mood was already chilled but things were about to get better. After sharing a feast from the local market (12 pple hungrily tucking their fingers into sticky rice, fresh fish, chicken, sweet chilli sauce, nems...) it was decided that we would use the remnants of someone's St Patrick's Day face paint on each other before heading out to the bowling alley (the only place open after 11 pm as LP has a curfew).

The rest of the evening is blurry at best. It might look a little like this...

Food - Face Paint - Tuk Tuk - Bowling - BeerLao (the BEST) - Spicy Noodles - BeerLao - Home.







I had initially planned to stay 2 nights in LP, but in the end stayed 4. That is the nature of the place. Had a redcross massage, bought some souvenirs at the night market, sipped coffee, chilled on the veranda, went to a waterfall, chilled some more... and most of all enjoyed spending time with a great group of people. Jimmy, Kelly, Jan, the Dutch, the Irish, the Canadian...raaah...a great group.



The rest of my Lao trip was cut short due to monsoon amounts of rain. It rained...rained...and rained again from LP to Vang Vieng (the home of tubbing but I wouldn't know as i spent the day hiding from the rain watching friends) and finally to the capital Ventiane.



The rain eased off a little but I was only spending one afternoon in the capital as I had already booked my onward journey back into Vietnam. Ventiane was surprisingly manageable. A small city for a capital, benefiting from the Mekong River, ample green spaces and most notably a still strong french influence (with their own version of l'Arc du Triomphe!). Buildings have remained low, the post office still has it's french name and build ... and the food...well let's say it made a french gal happy.

Vietnam Part 2 : Halong Bay

Halong Bay deserves a posting to itself, it is situated to the north of the Gulf of Tonkin, 3 hrs away from Hanoi. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, features thousands of limestone karts and isles in various sizes and shapes and is absolutely breathtaking.



Unfortunately, the only way to visit the islands are by using an organised tour. The format is somewhat appealing as visitors get to stay for a min of one night on a traditional vietnamese junk boat but the fact that there are over 400 junk boats in the bay at any one time is a clear negative.

I opted for a 1 night / 2 day tour which ensured that I experienced Halong Bay in the most efficient way (strap for time!). The trip was fun and I met some extremely interesting people. I had the opportunity to speak french canadian, to discuss Dubai's horse racing industry with a Belizean, all whilst chilling with some US graduates ans singing Karaoke.







Exhausting if you ask me!

Vietnam Part 1 : Hanoi to Sa Pa

Vietnam is home to a blastering 84m people - all living in a rather small, dragon shaped country that boasts lushious country-side, huge mountains and beautiful scenery of submerged rice fields and arduous working farmers wearing cone hats.

I arrived in Hanoi, early July to find myself taken under the protective wing of one of my father's friends. He got me to my hostel, paid for the hostel, bought me a SIM card and treated me to the best french 3 course lunch I've had for over 10 months!

Despite being the capital of Vietnam, Hanoi is surprisingly manageable. Very few high rise buildings block the views, the center is a combination of old french colonial, modern low rise, a large lake ... all surrounded by a swarm of ant-like motorbikes.



The first day was spent exploring the old french quarters, gaining understanding of the multitude of tribal communities and customs at the Museum of Ethnology, being mesmerized by the traditional water puppet shows, indulging in some people-watching along Hoan Kiem Lake whilst sipping succulent vietnamese coffee and of course, enjoying some Pho on the many street stalls.





Soon it was time to head north to the mountainous region and market town of Sa Pa. Northern vietnam is famous for its mountains and is the home to many of the country's tribal communities, rice paddy fields and treks.



I was joined on this adventure by two English gals who had been teaching English in China for the past year and an Aussie graphic designer from Sydney. We boarded the night train, soft sleeper (meaning with AC, wooden panels and somewhat unsurprisingly no Vietnamese people) and endured 9 hours of uncomfortable rocking on very hard and thin mattresses.



We arrived early and quickly made a move towards the begining of our 2 day trek. As we arrived to the first village we were greeted by a hord of screaming girls who couldn't have been older than 12 years old. The questions (we would later discover) were standard: " Where are you from ? How old are you ? (automatic response is "oh very young" ... even when I answered 60 years old (only once!)) What is your name..."



Introductions done and dusted we started our trek amongst Vietnam's northern mountain range (3000 m above sea level), navigating our way through paddy fields whilst enjoying beautiful, breath-taking, mountain scenary. The young girls proved to be close allies, talking to us as they helped us navigate through the treacherous muddy paths.





Our trek was broken up by regular meetings with the local Hmong, Dao and Tay tribes which was most certainly one of the highlights of Sa Pa. These woman are stunning both in the character that emanates from their faces but also from the rich embroidered ethnic clothes they wear.





We stayed the night in a homestay, sleeping on mats on the floor protected by the elements by a flimsy and hole ridden mosquito net. Luckily the local "Happy Water" ie. Rice wine was practically on tap and the drinking games we played with our fellow travellers ensured that we all slept well.

I thoroughly enjoyed my Sa Pa experience. The friendliness of the locals was felt despite the clear tourist money flowing in the region. The views were breathtaking and the experience of meeting local tribeswomen will definitely stay with me for years to come.

Hong Kong ... the bling and the traditional

It was always going to be impossible to surpass the experience I had 6 years ago in Hong Kong. I was staying with a friend (from Hong Kong), with her family, during Chinese New Year. I know. Top that.



Instead, I enjoyed it as a tourist. Visited the 10,000 markets in Kowloon, tried to resist the temptation of seeking AC vents (ie. in the tube, in malls, in fast food restaurants...) and embraced the stickyness that makes Hong Kong so special.



I met some lovely girls (from Aus and Ireland) and we explored the city together, even venturing out to the beach for one day.





All in all in was fun and allowed me to slowly get used to the fact that I was now in Asia.

Next stop Hanoi - Vietnam

Spending time with family

It's hard to describe the sense of relaxation that comes from spending time with family after being on the road for so long. Distance (ie Australia) has made that I have never spent much time with my Mum's side of the family but somehow it didn't seem to matter. It felt right and relaxing to be there.

I drove up to the Gold Coast to see the matriach of the family, a pretty sturdy 86 old and an absolutely amazing 98 old (I want to be like him when I get to that age). It's hard when you try and pile up 30 odd years of absence in one day ... and ultimately it has to disappoint somewhat. But the effort was made and that's what counts. What we lack in memories, we get in the comfort of doing the right thing.

It has especially been fun to spend time with my cousins. Due to the age difference it is the first time that age hasn't mattered and that I have been able to share a great deal with them from hanging out with friends to having conversations about how odd and beautiful our family is. Being an adult ain't half bad.

Time to move on. Early start tomorrow - flying from Brisbane to Sydney to Hong Kong.

Last leg.

Sydney - vibrant and kicking

After a few days of faffing about in Auckland, I finally arrived in Sydney. And excited, I was. A friend I had met on the Magic Bus in NZ picked me up from the airport and kindly hosted me for 3 days. It's funny how you can meet people, not really know them for a long time but really click.



I got introduced to what life could be like in Sydney (if i ever...). On the first night we went out for drinks and (amazing) Vietnamese food - here we were all huddled up around a small table, someone from Italy who'd lived in China, an Aussie from Chile, a few Spanish, French, Asian...everyone was represented. It was an exciting melting pot of ideas and experiences. It reminded me of London, a heterogenous buzzing society of people connected by their current location and thirst for new experiences.

I visited the sights, the opera house, the bridge, the Harbours, Bondi...and the weather was just stunning (which made for some pretty good photos!).



Highlights include the free ice cream (thank you Virgin), hanging out with B, seeing cute surfers in Bondi, ice cream, hanging out with an awesome group of people, the lime green bridesmaids (what not to do!) eating home made chicken pie and having tortilla (i know!) .



I could definitely live in Sydney. It's one of those places that seems to be right for so many people. Although I get the feeling of a you and us type of society where you have "foreigners" craving for some Aussie culture and interaction...and finding it hard to get.