Night travel by bus to Hoi An

(written on 01/08/09, published 28/09/09)

I was sad to leave Hanoi behind and felt there was a lot more I didn't see or experience. It was time to say goodbye to a few people we'd shared the Halong Bay trip with. I was really sad to see L go, a British girl on her way to New Zealand to live. After some sad goodbyes and a rushed Panini, T, myself and two very hungover British girls tramped off to the night bus. For $40 for a 4 stop ticket enabling me to get all the way to Saigon was clearly to good to be true. There were the 4 of us plus another person crammed in on the top bunk with barely space to move. That wasn't the worst though. The aircon was blowing a sewer smell into our faces and it was freezing. The toilet stops were plain scary and no-one wanted to go on their own. Why we didn't get a lovely train I don't know!

Anyway, T by this point decided to skip her stop to Hue and jumps on the day bus with the remaining 3 of us. We arrive, dodge the hotel touts and manage to get a hotel pretty quickly. Hoi An just felt pretty, gentile and quiet on arrival. Deep yellow painted houses and dark wood. Fragrances and delicious food. Lanterns and river boats. Balconies and cocktails. And clothes upon clothes. After a bad night, T and I went on the rampage, shopping and having cocktails.

A good meal and an early night for us though. T tore up her bus ticket and vowed never to get on a sleeper bus again. With 6 weeks to go of my trip there was going to plenty more sleeper buses for me.

So Long Halong

(written on 31/07/09, posted on 28/09/09)

So three days in the beautiful Halong Bay and here I am back again and saying goodbye to Hanoi.

Three days of being a tourist and floating around on boats. This is the trip everyone seems to do when they first get to Hanoi and it's worth it. Someone told me it's a bit like being herded around and they were right in a sense. But when you get to your junk there's only a handful of boats near you in this UNESCO site. The only depressing thing is seeing litter float past your canoe and seeing the cooks chuck things into the water. There doesn't seem to be much respect for keeping the site clean and perhaps a bit more education is needed to the boat staff.

The limestone cliffs will blow you away though and if you get a chance get in a canoe to see the caves. The bay is riddled with Jellyfish. Only one person got stung on our boat which is apparently usual. Loads of great people on board which made it for me, a few of which I made good friends with. So a Happy Drunken Birthday was had by T and we were all entertained by a group of hilarious Irish lads. Especially J who had an eye tattooed on each ahem cheek. I cried with laughter when I saw it.

On the second night a group of us who had paid extra were whisked off to our private beach (view from the beach at dusk above). We got there around midday and were looked after by a crew of locals and two British lads who were clearly picked for their ability to get tourists drunk. A and E, two British girls just out of Uni did their best to keep up whilst the rest of us enjoyed watching them. Some of the lads got all caveman and built a beach fire from Bamboo. One of the crew told us it has a habit of exploding in fires due to air bubbles that get trapped inside. It was such a nice chilled out evening. As soon as someone told me there was phosphorescent algae in the water, a group of us got changed and jumped in the sea. It was amazing, swimming along with these gold sparkles travelling up your arms. It was definitely the scene of much drunken hilarity but this doesn't take away the astounding beauty of the whole place.

Britney and Bia Hoi

(written 28/07/09, posted 28/09/09)

Being 4 girls, it's now become shopping and cocktails. Hanoi is a great place to do this. I didn't get much in China. I seemed to do the more serious travelling stuff and now it feels like I'm on holiday. Also a lot of stuff in China felt very manufactures and it somehow feels better here. The best find is a gravestone with a picture of Britney Spears (see pic).

T and I get on brilliantly too. I feel like I've known her for ages. We waste the afternoon chatting and dawdling round Hanoi dodging motorbikes. I'm so confused about the roads until I realise you don't wait for a gap in the traffic. Just walk and the traffic will avoid you. It's pretty hairy by the lake but usually you can find someone local to follow.

In the evening we go to the Water Puppet theatre. Full of tourists, T is making faces as

she thinks it's naff. I actually think it's funny in places but there is so much more they can do with it. The technical aspect and the music is great and at least we're doing something other than shopping! Once outside I drag everyone away to find Bia Hoi Junction. This is my last chance as after Halong Bay tomorrow we get the night bus to Hoi An.

I get lost, then we decide to get a taxi. When we arrive there are the little plastic stools outside shops serving up the beer. You get a glass of beer then just pass your glass back to the server who refills your glass from the keg. Brilliant. Why aren't there places like this back home? The girls are all starving so I get dragged away for food. No-one fancies the pig on a stick being peddled around for dinner. Shame my friend who told me about this place isn't here. I get the feeling if he was there we wouldn't have finished until 2am and we'd have out the world to rights.

Hanoi gets better

(written on 27/07/09, posted on 28/09/09)

I can't check in until 12. After two night trains in a row I'm desperate for a shower but it's off round town and hope no-one notices. Everything is so disorientating until I realise that streets have a theme: leather street for handbags and wallets, clothes street, lantern street and even a smoothie street. I can't wait to get shopping later. I'm loving the look of the food stalls too.

I manage a stroll round the lake and a quick look in the temple. It's not long until my money seems to be running out and I realise that the 300,000 Vietnamese Dong I took out earlier is worth £10. With time nearing 12, I try and get back but everywhere looks the same. Everything feels so much smaller than China too. Even the little plastic stools that people sit on in the street are tiny. I better not mention the clothes too. I'd probably be an XXXL.

Eventually I get back and there are backpackers everywhere. All after Halong Bay trips which are basically supposed to be beautiful but which are essentially a drinkfest. I leave it until later to book. As I rest after my shower, T enters the dorm. She's bubbly and lovely. I'm relieved as I haven't spoken to anyone older than 25 yet today. It's her 30th in a couple of days so we agree to do the Halong Bay trip together. Can't miss celebrating a birthday like that.

We then meet A and N from California. What then happens is we all go out for drinks, eats, shopping and exploring for the rest of the day. I tried to find the famous Bia Hoi Junction where there are 4 street places, one on each corner of a junction that serve freshly brewed beer for 30 cents a glass. That'll have to be tomorrow then!

Hanoi and a fight with a taxi driver

(written on 27/07/09, posted on 22/09/09)



It's a fag getting through the border overland, which involves getting off the train with bags at 11pm and farting around at Chinese customs for an hour. Back on the train and another half an hour or so later back off for the Vietnam border. By 2am, I can go to sleep in my bunk for a total of 4 hours. I can't actually sleep as I'm too excitied.



I must nod off as the train guard wakes me and asks for my plastic card (they give you this in exchange for your ticket, presumably so they can keep tabs on who is n and off their trains). They usually wake you thirty minutes before you are due to get off. I've been given five minutes to stick my contacts in and brush my teeth. No time to be excited still, I get off the train in Hanoi disorientated and bleary-eyed.

The taxi drivers surround the alighting passengers like dogs hungry to get to their win-a-lot so I escape the pack and go to hunt for a bank. The only bank I can see doesn't accept my card. I had the foresight to think about getting dollars, I just couldn't be bothered. This is something that I regret now. The one taxi driver that I spoke to and who tried to charge me $15 to get me 6km into the centre of Hanoi pulls up with two people in his taxi. I try to explain to them I have no dollars and they happily wave me in. Lucky for me. I try to ask what they have agreed with the driver. They say $4 each. Cheeky barstard! They get dropped outside their hotel and try to pay him $8. He wants another $6 to take me round the corner so I hastily spot another ATM, it works. Whilst he argues with the other two about the now increased price as there were 3 of us, I nip inside a shop with my Vietnamese Dong to get some change.

By the time I get back to them the tai driver is threatening to lamp the Austrian and the younger French guy looks petrified. I step in, calming female to the rescue. No such luck, I try to pay and the driver locks my luggage in the car. It's at this point the Austrian storms off fuming and I lose it. After banging on his car window is an assertive/perhaps slightly agressive way to get my point across that just because I'm a woman doesn't mean he can behave this way. He calls up someone saying they are from customer services. I agree $4 with them after haggling.

I get to my hostel, he tries to give me change for $5 until I point out his lousy exchange rate, then he strangely blames the Austrian for everything. I walk away in disbelief at this point, it's not a good start to Hanoi.

Pandas and Nanning money troubles

(written on 26/07/09, posted on 17/09/09)

I've spent three fun and exhausting days in Hong Kong. I've seen Pandas at Ocean Park, been to a lot of markets and gawped at skyscrapers. Time to go as even though there's more to see I can't stand my cast iron mattress and privacy invasion anymore.

I get the local train back into Guangzhou then amazingly I'm able to book a night train for that night to Nanning. Left luggage, reading in the park and it's off again.

Even more amazingly as I don't particularly want to stay in Nanning, I get there and am able to book another night train into Hanoi for that night. At the bank again, I have a complete nightmare. I type in 300 Yuan (approx £30) which is enough for a couple of journeys and I get 3000 due to an ATM error. There is no way I will spend £300 in 24 hours. I was exasperated as it turned out the staff knew there was an error with the machine so why did they have it switched on? The only suggestion they come up with is change the money but they don't have the service.

At the fifth bank I went to, a group of women were sitting in the lobby. One said in English, change money? I nodded. She made an elaborate display of pulling a calculator out of her handbag, typing a fugire in, showing me and saying is this ok? The other women by now were looking at us expectantly. I said slowly, you don't actually work here do you? She grinned at me. As I walked off to find a member of staff the whole group erupted into a cackling fit. Ha bloody ha. Those old practical jokes again. A member of staff then tells me why no-one can change my money. It's a Sunday. Argh!

So having been in China for over two weeks I'm happy to get to Vietnam and as much as I loved the whole experience it's time to move on. My journey of two consecutive nights on trains is time without a base or anywhere to shower but it'll be worth it. Vietnam it is.

Off to Hong Kong with cash

(written on 23/07/09, posted on 17/09/09)

As I'd started to travel yesterday, I thought I'd give the ATM one last go as having no cash could cause obvious problems. As I was typing the numbers in I'd noticed the keypad looked strange. I cleared the numbers and carefully punched them in one by one. Cash!

I'd been typing in the numbers in the same pattern as I do in the UK. Chinese banks have their keypads with the highest numbers at the top so 7, 8, 9. Ho hum. Lesson number 47 learnt.

Waist pouch filled with the wrong currency I spent over 24 hours travelling on one night train then another train from Guangzhou across the border into Hong Kong. There the nastiest hostel inside an apartment awaited. Luckily I met a 60 year old woman who was on a 4 week trip without her husband (can I have one like that please?) to travel China. She'd been here before so quickly showed me the way to the famous Star Ferry that takes you across from Kowloon to Hong Kong Island (see pic). There we parted and I caught a tram to go up to Victoria peak to catch the phenomenal views of the skyscrapers jammed into every available space.

Having done the first thing I was always do in a city, head for the place with the best views, I then plan the second, sushi. So a walk back through the amazing streets all on hills with signs vying for your attention above the crowded shops, back on the ferry. Octopus card (the HK version of the Oyster) bleeping my way on buses to the night market then conveyer belt sushi and a beer.

A perfect day. Back at the hostel I chat to my three companions and we end up having an argument wit teh Cantonese landlady. She is furious that we all nicked an extra sheet each from the cupboard as her laundry bill we go up. I try and amicably explain we didn't want to sleep on mattress covers. An argument ensues and the Romanian girl doesn't stand for it. After a heated 15 minutes we end up laughing as the landlady storms out of the room and we go to bed. I've never eperienced someone in a hostel barging in to check up on me before. It's such a rude invasion of privacy I think our giggling is more about being shocked than anything else. Hong Kong is an odd but entertaining mix of East and West.