Vietnam So Far
Hi Everyone
just when you thought I wasn't going to write any more posts.....I have a bit of catching up to do :-)
Sitting here in an internet cafe in Hoi An, its 8.30 pm, and bloody hot - you'd think we'd be used to it and stop complaining by now!!
We've been in Vietnam 9 days so far and a really enjoying a change of scenery and the company of Mum. The last few days in KL we were all getting grumpy with each other and a little tired of life on the road. Our trip out to the theme park in Genting did nothing to help morale, due partly to the crowds there, and the four hours it took to get there in the first place (including a 3.4 km cable car ride).
The kids fully expected Mum to be waiting at Hanoi airport for us (she was due to arrive two days later) so that was a bit of a disappointment for them, but now she's here and its great to have some new motivation and fresh conversation. The children thought it was christmas as Mum bought them new books to read, some NZ lollies, and colouring pens. Its also a blessing having an extra pair of eyes on the kids when we're out and about crossing roads and being stalked by hawkers.
Talking of crossing roads.. it is the funniest thing once you get over the fear of stepping straight out into oncoming traffic. You basically step off the curb and slowly but steadily aim for the other side, the traffic just drives around you!! We've enjoyed watching traffic intersections, the more motorbikes and streets intersecting the better... Mark and I were trying to think of a catchphrase to describe it, like in NZ its 'merge like a zip' the best we could come up with was 'merge like velcro'. I enjoyed sticking Mum in the front seat of our taxi from Hanoi airport, the vehicles here are left hand drive and so she was completely freaked, ducking and diving as the traffic came at her!! (sorry again Mum)
Hanoi took a bit of getting used to, the streets so busy and tiny, everything so fast and mad, and hawkers are at you constantly to buy postcards, books, fans, whistles, anything!! We were fortunate to find a small hotel with staff that really took care of us... they were even calling Mum 'Nana' by the end of our visit.
The kids and Mark have all been sick since we arrived, with sore throats and colds initially. Petra bounced back quickly enough but Mark and Brannan are taking longer to recover, I was glad to finally use up some of the drugs (ie antibiotics) we have been carrying around for the past 5 weeks (read more space in the bags for shopping).
Conned Mum and Petra into joining me in the queue to see Ho Chi Minh at his mausoleum - queue wasn't too bad only 45 mins, and considering he's been dead since 1969 he's in pretty good nick - apparently he goes back to Russia for 3 months every year for maintenance. Mum is still chuckling because I got told off for talking inside the crypt by one of the guards (I wasn't saying anything disrespectful!!)
From Hanoi we took an overnight tour up to Halong Bay, 'unbelievably spectacular' is the only way to describe it. Over 3000 limestone 'islands' dotted around the bay, although some not big enough to pitch a tent on, others contain caves with stalactites and stalagmites, just incredible. The trip included spending the night on a junk boat, kayaking and swimming. I had earlier mentioned to our tour guide that if the swimming wasn't from a beach the kids wouldn't be doing any... I was made to eat my words and watch unhappily as Bran and Pet jumped merrily off the boat (into 200 mtr deep sea) wearing life jackets - they had a ball :-)
We arrived here in Hoi An yesterday after taking an overnight sleeper train to cover the 890 kms from Hanoi. The journey took 15 hours, we felt cheeky cramming the five of us into a four bed carriage (Pet and I topped and tailed) until we saw some carriages contained 4 Vietnamese per bed!! And god knows what was handed out in the lunch trays on the train, I lifted the lid of one and it smelt exactly like the toilet down the hall, so I sneaked the trays back into the train guards box when he wasn't looking :-) Luckily we had plenty of food supplies of our own.
Last night some five hours after getting off the train we were all still rocking and feeling as if we were still on board - in fact it made us all rather nauseous - so today, when we were investigating travel options to Ho Chi Minh City we discovered it is only $10USD extra each to fly (1 hour) as opposed to another overnight sleeper train (18 hours) hmmm no contest there!!
Mark and I did what every tourist in Hoi An does today... we got measured up for suits. Its amazing that in a town of 76,000 there are 200 tailor stores - a suit for each of us (mine with trou, and long and short skirts), plus a couple of shirts came to $260USD, even then I think we may have been overcharged! We go for first fittings tomorrow... we're going to dazzle any prospective employers we meet at the end of our journey.
I also had a strange experience this afternoon... squeamish males may quit reading here... I had my legs, ummm, 'tweezed' with cotton - a hawker dragged me to her 'beauty shop' after feeling up my legs (quite uninvited I might add) in the cloth market. She wound cotton around her fingers and basically plucked a sample area on my calf (of course you can't walk out with a bald patch then can you???) once I agreed she could continue, her sister arrived on the scene and the pair of them finished off what she'd started. She then wanted to see my underarms... I won't bore you with more details, but rest assured we didn't discuss bikini lines :-)
We plan to spend a few more days here in Hoi An as we have a beautiful hotel with a pool (absolute necessity) and everyone still needs to convalesce a little. We've been watching with interest the goings on in Cambodia today (yes you can get CNN in Vietnam!) as Siem Reap was to be the last stop for Mum - may need to make alternate arrangements there.
Congratulations if you've made it thus far in one sitting - I'm off to check on the troops and rest up for another day of heat and being a tourist.
Love
Hayls
just when you thought I wasn't going to write any more posts.....I have a bit of catching up to do :-)
Sitting here in an internet cafe in Hoi An, its 8.30 pm, and bloody hot - you'd think we'd be used to it and stop complaining by now!!
We've been in Vietnam 9 days so far and a really enjoying a change of scenery and the company of Mum. The last few days in KL we were all getting grumpy with each other and a little tired of life on the road. Our trip out to the theme park in Genting did nothing to help morale, due partly to the crowds there, and the four hours it took to get there in the first place (including a 3.4 km cable car ride).
The kids fully expected Mum to be waiting at Hanoi airport for us (she was due to arrive two days later) so that was a bit of a disappointment for them, but now she's here and its great to have some new motivation and fresh conversation. The children thought it was christmas as Mum bought them new books to read, some NZ lollies, and colouring pens. Its also a blessing having an extra pair of eyes on the kids when we're out and about crossing roads and being stalked by hawkers.
Talking of crossing roads.. it is the funniest thing once you get over the fear of stepping straight out into oncoming traffic. You basically step off the curb and slowly but steadily aim for the other side, the traffic just drives around you!! We've enjoyed watching traffic intersections, the more motorbikes and streets intersecting the better... Mark and I were trying to think of a catchphrase to describe it, like in NZ its 'merge like a zip' the best we could come up with was 'merge like velcro'. I enjoyed sticking Mum in the front seat of our taxi from Hanoi airport, the vehicles here are left hand drive and so she was completely freaked, ducking and diving as the traffic came at her!! (sorry again Mum)
Hanoi took a bit of getting used to, the streets so busy and tiny, everything so fast and mad, and hawkers are at you constantly to buy postcards, books, fans, whistles, anything!! We were fortunate to find a small hotel with staff that really took care of us... they were even calling Mum 'Nana' by the end of our visit.
The kids and Mark have all been sick since we arrived, with sore throats and colds initially. Petra bounced back quickly enough but Mark and Brannan are taking longer to recover, I was glad to finally use up some of the drugs (ie antibiotics) we have been carrying around for the past 5 weeks (read more space in the bags for shopping).
Conned Mum and Petra into joining me in the queue to see Ho Chi Minh at his mausoleum - queue wasn't too bad only 45 mins, and considering he's been dead since 1969 he's in pretty good nick - apparently he goes back to Russia for 3 months every year for maintenance. Mum is still chuckling because I got told off for talking inside the crypt by one of the guards (I wasn't saying anything disrespectful!!)
From Hanoi we took an overnight tour up to Halong Bay, 'unbelievably spectacular' is the only way to describe it. Over 3000 limestone 'islands' dotted around the bay, although some not big enough to pitch a tent on, others contain caves with stalactites and stalagmites, just incredible. The trip included spending the night on a junk boat, kayaking and swimming. I had earlier mentioned to our tour guide that if the swimming wasn't from a beach the kids wouldn't be doing any... I was made to eat my words and watch unhappily as Bran and Pet jumped merrily off the boat (into 200 mtr deep sea) wearing life jackets - they had a ball :-)
We arrived here in Hoi An yesterday after taking an overnight sleeper train to cover the 890 kms from Hanoi. The journey took 15 hours, we felt cheeky cramming the five of us into a four bed carriage (Pet and I topped and tailed) until we saw some carriages contained 4 Vietnamese per bed!! And god knows what was handed out in the lunch trays on the train, I lifted the lid of one and it smelt exactly like the toilet down the hall, so I sneaked the trays back into the train guards box when he wasn't looking :-) Luckily we had plenty of food supplies of our own.
Last night some five hours after getting off the train we were all still rocking and feeling as if we were still on board - in fact it made us all rather nauseous - so today, when we were investigating travel options to Ho Chi Minh City we discovered it is only $10USD extra each to fly (1 hour) as opposed to another overnight sleeper train (18 hours) hmmm no contest there!!
Mark and I did what every tourist in Hoi An does today... we got measured up for suits. Its amazing that in a town of 76,000 there are 200 tailor stores - a suit for each of us (mine with trou, and long and short skirts), plus a couple of shirts came to $260USD, even then I think we may have been overcharged! We go for first fittings tomorrow... we're going to dazzle any prospective employers we meet at the end of our journey.
I also had a strange experience this afternoon... squeamish males may quit reading here... I had my legs, ummm, 'tweezed' with cotton - a hawker dragged me to her 'beauty shop' after feeling up my legs (quite uninvited I might add) in the cloth market. She wound cotton around her fingers and basically plucked a sample area on my calf (of course you can't walk out with a bald patch then can you???) once I agreed she could continue, her sister arrived on the scene and the pair of them finished off what she'd started. She then wanted to see my underarms... I won't bore you with more details, but rest assured we didn't discuss bikini lines :-)
We plan to spend a few more days here in Hoi An as we have a beautiful hotel with a pool (absolute necessity) and everyone still needs to convalesce a little. We've been watching with interest the goings on in Cambodia today (yes you can get CNN in Vietnam!) as Siem Reap was to be the last stop for Mum - may need to make alternate arrangements there.
Congratulations if you've made it thus far in one sitting - I'm off to check on the troops and rest up for another day of heat and being a tourist.
Love
Hayls
Comments
Vietnam sounds very interesting. Is there much tourism advertising based around the relics and events of the South East Asian (Vietnam) war of the 1960's/1970's or do they pretty much try to forget it ever happened?
Evan
There's very little actual tourist information around, you end up relying on what you learn from other travellers, and what tours and trips your hotel can organise.
Its been an interesting place to visit as I didn't know anything about the war prior to coming here...and am glad I'm not an American tourist :-)