Travellings

Back in Bangkok now. It feels like we’ve never left! I love this city. I didn’t know it until we got back here. On arrival, Phranakorn messed up our booking, the double booked us! So we got a free upgrade to the family room!!! AMAZING. Anyway, the train journey last night was hell, it was an hour an a half late, and consequently, we arrived late. It was also insanely cold thanks to the air con, and so I hardly slept. Looking forward to a decent night here though now, back in “Bangkok Kitsch” :) Haiku’s coming soon. ...

After an horrendous journey on yet another sleeper bus, we’ve arrived in Sapa. I can only describe this place as being like a skiing town like Niederau in Austria, just with a distinct lack of snow. It’s about 1300 elevation, so it’s damn cold. The nearest peak is Fansipan, which is about 3000 elevation, and we’d be able to see it if it wasn’t for the thick layer of cold fog everywhere. ...

I vow to never ever get a sleeping bus ever again. I’ve had enough. This one is tiny and smells of rotten garbage. There’s only two westerners on it; myself and Susie; and they’re playing some insanely annoying traditional music throughout the whole bus. We’re on our way from Hanoi to Sapa to do some trekking before heading off to Laos. In other words, another 13 hour sleeper. I’m so desperate to just have a couple of days full on rest, on a beach, with cheap beer and food; maybe some yoga, maybe some running. But at the moment it’s pretty much gogogo, and it has been since we arrived in Vietnam, as we’ve had so much ground to cover. We’re hoping for some respite in Laos, but apparently the journey from Dien Bien Phu, across the border, and into Luang Prabang is a LONG one. I.e 3 damn days. I can honestly say that from my experience, the further north you go in Vietnam, the more bullied you feel. People get more aggressive, the towns and cities get more arrogant, and the temperature gets wetter and colder. Even trying to buy stuff in Hanoi was a mission; on several occasions - on a quest to buy a lens hood because I broke my camera lens (I’ll explain when I’m not ranting) - I approached a guy in a shop, saw what I was looking for, asked him if I could see it, to which he bluntly and blankly replied No. They don’t want your money here. So anyway. Let me put it this way; At the moment, Susanna and I are taking sleeping shifts. Haha.

Before: After:

So the last couple of days have been pretty full on. Following our departure from Dalat, we took a 6 hour bus to the chav-tastic beach town of Nha Trang, where I had an extremely painful ear cleaning session and a razor shave (see previous posts for proof). Awesome. After this, a nasty (but clean) sleeper bus for 13 hours to Hoi An. Which was so awesome, we stayed an extra night. Totally beautiful city and an amazingly hospitable hotel. Yellow french colonial buildings everywhere, with open front shops selling custom tailored clothes, shoes, and bed spreads (ask Susie about the latter). I got an amazing pair of jeans made for £15 and some leather sandals for a tenner. Food here was awesome too, the local specialities were Cao Lau (fresh noodles topped with roasted garlic, slices of pork and sweet basil), “White rose” (small, steamed wantons sprinkled with shallots) and Pho (noodle soup). Unfortunately, it rained most of the time. Yesterday we went to My Son, where there are remnants of Cham Hindu temples - there are Linga EVERYWHERE (crude stone dicks; seriously, there are literally hundreds of cocks in My Son). Kinda like Angkor Wat, but about a hundred times smaller. Today we came to Hue, Hoi An’s sister city, and took a bike tour around to see the Tu Duc tomb, which, funnily enough, wasn’t actually even a real tomb. Weird. Cool though. ...

I feel like I’m in prison. I’m in a tiny cubbyhole with my toes pressed up against the underneath of someone else’s bed. I can barely move, but at least I’m laying down. We’re on our way to Hoi An, which is about 300km north of Nha Trang (We made a 6 hour stop here on our way from Dalat). It’s a 13 hour journey overland by bus, hence the sleeper. It’s comfortable, but I feel like complaining because… Well, I just guess because I can. I’m a moany old bastard sometimes. The brakes died on the Dalat -> Nha Trang bus today too. Which was fun. There was an almighty loud bang, and a smell of burning. We got dumped at a food station for 30 minutes while the bus drove off (I’m assuming) to get some repairs (which was odd, because being on a mountain, you kind of assume that you’re isolated and there’s nothing around… ). Got some nice pictures here though. They’ll be up on FB when I either get a decent connection or I get out of Vietnam. X

Dalat is a headfuck. It feels and looks like a skiing resort in France, without the snow. And while it’s still cold here (I think it’s about 1500m above sea level) I’m still wearing shorts and sandals. Everyone else though, is wearing gloves. I wanna go snowboarding.

On our way to The highland town of Dalat today. Looking forward to lower temperatures and not having to use AC at night; I have a cold. Which, is not necessarily a bad thing at the moment. Susie just informed me that someone let one go on the bus that we’re on. If someone continues to have bad bowels for the duration of this 8 hour bus journey, then hopefully I’ll be none the wiser. Unfortunately for Susie, she has no choice in the matter.

The last 2 days have been spent in the Mekong delta’s capital city of Can Tho. Here, one of the offshoots of the river Mekong provides the town with a prosperous riverside community and economy based primarily on the sale of fruit and vegetables. You can see this by taking a day trip on a tiny longboat 20k down stream to visit the Floating Markets. I had visions of the markets being small, wooden huts (much like conventional land markets) on Jettys, floating on the river, separated by small canals wide enough to allow a longtail boat through. I was wrong; they were literally boats filled with an assortment of fruits and vegetables - piloted by women in Vietnamese “dome” hats, that lay stationary by the river banks - distinguishable by long bamboo sticks pointing upward into the sky, that hang the various produce being sold. Our driver - the legendary Huc - navigated these markets like a pro, picking pineapples and sour Vietnamese lychees, and offering them to us for our breakfast (we left the hotel at 5:30 am and got to the markets within an hour). The second we arrived at a Market, a middle-aged man accompanied by a kid holding soft drinks, sped over to us in an attempting to peddle his wares. You’re not safe, even on the river. Sigh. ...

I would recommend heartily doing every trip by yourself when in Vietnam. It takes a bit more planning and is obviously a bit more intimidating with the language barrier and all, but you’ll save about 50% on all travel costs. For example; we’re going to Can Tho today, and we organised a bus with our guesthouse, who quoted 160,000 dong each (about $8) We took a walk down Pham Ngu Lao street, and all of the operators were about the same. We booked with our guesthouse. Upon arrival at the bus station however, the going rate was 80,000 dong ($4). If we’d got a cab here instead of booking with the guesthouse, we’d have saved $8 between us. Sucks hey, but you learn from your mistakes. ...