Vietnam

Greetings all

So much has happened since I last wrote so stand by for loads of info on what we have been up to.

Tuesday July 17th
We checked out of the Sunny Hotel and went to our travel agents to dump our main bags so that we are only taking essentials to Sapa with us. We went to a cool cafe called Little Hanoi and then had our first monthly budget meeting after buying a small calculator for 75p!

We were a little over budget for 4 weeks but by the time the fifth week ends we should be back on track, largely due to the exceptional value of the tours we have signed up for as they include accomodation and meals. Halong Bay was $53 each and Sapa was $87 each.

After the budget meeting we went to Hanoi prison, nicknamed the Hanoi Hilton by American prisoners during the Vietnam war. I thought this might have been ironic but the tour showed us that the Americans were very well looked after indeed. The prison had originally been built by the French to house Vietnamese revolutionaries earlier in the century. They certainly could not have called it the Hilton!

We then wandered down a wee side street market with all kinds of food on offer - including a dog that had been roasted! Brings a whole new meaning to a hot dog!

After that we went to see a water puppet show, a 'must do' in Hanoi. It was alright, the puppeteers were very talented and the music was good. It only lasted an hour and we got a free fan!

After dinner at a cheap restaurant with a balcony overlooking the old quarter we went to our travel agents and he got us a taxi to the station, following us by bike so he could personally show us to our first class sleeper carriage. Hanoi station was [retty crazy so I was glad he came along - that's service!

Our 4 bed (2 bunks) carriage was lovely and we were pleased when a New Zealand couple called Anthony and Angela (or Ants and Ang as they affectionately called each other) took the other two bunks. We chatted for a bit before getting a decent sleep and been awoken just before we arrived in Lao Cai at 0530 hours. At this stage we were only 2km from the Chinese border.

Wednesday July 18th
Our guide had our names on a card and we hopped on a bus to Sapa, winding up and around some mountain roads. We arrived in Sapa and got a quick shower beforemeeting the rest of our trekking group - 4 Danish girls including identical blonde twins (I kid you not), 2 Canadians, A guy from Vietnam and two German girls.

The trek started well as we admired the scenery. The path was pretty mucky due to the rain (it rains pretty regularly in Sapa as it is so high up - among the clouds). A local tribe walked with us and ended up helping usas the track became increasingly slippy. Our guide wasn't much help as he ploundered on leaving everyone else to slip and slide and fall in the mud! The local tribe ended up holding our hands along teh way as the rain started and their were some dangerous and also funny moments as the path narrowed and the rain continued to come down. It was a lot cooler than Hanoi and Halong Bay! It was like being back in Scotland weatherwise and scenery-wise.

Check our flickr site for photos of me with my two young guides, as sure-footed as a mountain goat! We bought bags and bracelets off them to thank them for their help.

Our guide eventually took us to our home stay in Ban Ho village - little more than shacks in the foot of a valley that we slid down. We walked to a small waterfall and I sat in the river to cool down and wash my mud splattered clothes. We then had a nice dinner and chatted for a bit before the host broughtout some rice wine and got hammered with our guide and another guide (who was Chinese but thought he was American). The Chinese guy tried and failed miserably to chat up the Danish girls.

We set off a little late, around 10am. One of the German girls wasn't well so she went by jeep with her friend, the Canadian girl and the Vietnamese guy to our lunch spot. The Vietnamese guy had attempted the hike in sandals! Our guide wasn't very good and should have warned us all about the conditions.

We clambered back up the valley and Lynn had a real go at the guide telling him that he ignored us and didn't look out for us. Good old Lynn, he got a real earful!We got back to Sapa and immediately put all our clothes in to get laundered. We had a snooze and a wander around Sapa Town, which is lovely and I would recommend a visit - maybe not a trek!

Friday July 20th
After an early night we got up expecting a short trek only to be told that we had the day to explore ourselves. After our previous experience with the guide I was quite pleased and Lynn and I trekked independently to Cat Cat village and back - around 10k . This was much more pleasant as it was by road and recognised path. After lunch we then climbed a hill in the centre of Sapa. At the top there were caves and lovely gardens looking on to the mountains. We watched the clouds roll by and it was rather lovely.

After climbing back down we sat and watched some guys play frisbee in the square before getting on a bus to LAo Cai. We had dinner and met the Danish girls again and ended up sharing a carriage with an elderly Danish couple back to Hanoi.

Saturday July 21st
A long day! We slept well on the train and arrived in Hanoi at 5am. We walked from the staion to the lake by the odl quarter and sat and watched the city wake. Thousands of people run round thelake every morning and do Tai Chi. It was fantastic to watch as this area of the city, indeed the whole of Hanoi is usually very busy! I even did a few stretching exercises, although Lynn was not very amused as she was a bit tired!

We checke back in to the Sunny Hotel and immediately left to get a bike taxi to Ho Chi Minh museum. It was very interesting and we got to see his mummified body! A bit weird!

After an afternoon kip we are refreshed and about to go and watch the second half of Australia v Japan. The game is in Hanoi but we decided not to bother going along and just watch it witha few beers in town.

Tomorrow we have a chilled day in Hanoi before another night time train to Hue where we will spend a couple of nights max, then on to Hoi An and then some beaches!

We will then go to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), Cambodia and then hit the beaches of Thailand.

Catch you soon and check some new photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/murrayandlynn

Hello all

Well what has been happening I hear you ask.....

Since I last wrote we have enjoyed wandering around the old quarter in Hanoi where half the fun is getting lost down some narrow side streets and discovering markets and all sorts. We then went to the magnificent Museum of Ethnology to learn all about Vietnams many, many cultures.

So far the weather has been fantastic but it is absolutely boiling in Vietnam - 40 degrees plus 85% humidity, I kid you not!

That night (Friday 13th) we did indeed manage to get tickets for the Japan v UAE game, it was far from a sell-out. The stadium and atmosphere were both excellent, largely due to the Japanese following. There were only around 30 UAE supporters. We sat and had a beer with some Japanese fans who were very impressed that we were wearing Japan scarves and even more impressed that we came from Glasgow. They asked us loads about Celtic and what we thought of Nakamura.

For any Celtic supporters reading (and I know of at least one) Nakamura played very well and scored a penalty. It was a good game, pretty open at first, but Japan soon took control and their number 19 Takahra scored two excellent goals. UAE lost the plot a little and there were some crazy tackles flying in. Nakamura scored a penalty to make it 3-0 before half time. Japan took it easy in the 2nd half, taking off both scorers, and UAE scored a fine consolation after a surging run from their right back. The predictable sending off did happen, there could have been more, and the game ended 3-1 to Japan.

I have to say that I have never watched a game in such heat. I don't know how the players coped! Even the loclas in the stand were dripping with sweat - lovely!

After the game we struggled to get a taxi, eventually opting for a motorbike taxi off a young student for 100,000 dong for the 12k ride back to central Hanoi. Lynn and I perched on the back and we sped off through the traffic. Pretty mental stuff, it was like being in a film. We got back to the old quarter and I had two beers to calm my nerves!

(Saturday 14th) We get up early as the day before we booked a 2 night/3 day trip to Halong Bay for the bargain price of $54 each. The bus took 3 hours to get to Halong City and we spoke to 3 young English girls on the way. There was 16 of us on our junk boat as it cruised out of the crowded bay towards the 1,967 islands (mountains jutting out of the sea). The scenery was spectacular. Do a ggogle search for Halong Bay and look at some of the pictures - I'll try and upload some tomorrow.

We pitched up at a 'floating village' to hire kayaks and we managed to paddle very close to the limestone cliffs/ Our guide then took us through a cave into a lagoon surrounded by cliffs on all sides.

We went back to our boat and went for a swim before dinner. The sea was lovely and warm, bath temperature and it was easy to float on the surface due to the salt. Very relaxing. We had dinner and then climbed on top of the roof to watch an electrical storm in the distance with a bottle of wine. We chatted to the English girls - Liz, Becki and Jen as well as a really nice Japanese guy called Markoto who is in Vietnam for the Asia Cup.

The storm was spectacular - we had a panormaic view. Again, it was like being in, or watching, a film.

Pretty soon it closed in and we went back down and learned how to play Rummy with the English girls.

All in all, a pretty fantastic day.

(Sunday 15th)
We woke early to watch the sun rise over the mountain. It wasn't the best sun rise I have ever seen but it was still worth the 6am rise. We had breakfast and sailed to Cat Ba island where we would stay the second night. We waved goodbye to the girls and Markoto who were going back to Hanoi.

We caught a minibus to a hill where there is a 40 metre tower on top that has views across Cat Ba (another World Heritage site - indeed Halong Bay is). It was another scorcher and we were dripping with sweat before we even started. We climbed through the jungle path and it took around an hour to get to the top. The view was amazing. We climbed the old rusty tower, bolted to a rock and looked out across the green canope of trees - lovely.

On the climb down we sweated more buckets and when we reached the bottom I wrung my t-shirt out and produced what must have been a litre of sweat - lovely! We downed a couple of bottles of water and I filled and old bucket from a well and doused myself with that several times.

We then travelled back to our hotel where we turned the air conditioning on full blast and had a cold shower. After lunch we had a nap then wandered to a couple of beaches that were rammed as it is Vietnamese holiday season. I doubt we would have had the energy to swim anyway. After dinner we just went to our room for a quiet night of reading and enjoying the air conditioning - God we are getting old!

(Monday 16th)
We're now back in Vietnam. Tonight we are going to watch the Vietnam v Japan game in a bar in the Old Quarter and tomorrow we travel North by overnight train to Sapa to go on a 2.5 day trek staying overnight with local tribes - should be good and apparentlyit is a lot cooler in the hills - I hope so as we have a 7 hour trek and an 8 hour trek coming up!

Lots of love
Murray and Lynn
xxx

OK so I couldn't reist the blog title and I apologise for posting another blog so quĩckly but we have already ẽperienced so much in Hanoi.

Hanoi is a thriving, throbbing, pretty god damn mental city. Our flight from Laos took an hour and we then jumped in a minibus to the old quảrter of Hanoi. As soon as we got off the bus we were surrounded by guys wanting to give us a lift on their motorbikes. We politely declined and mảrched off to find a hotel. We found one thanks to a local who took us to the hotelhe worked in. It seemed nice enough so we checked in. Vietnam were playing Quatar in the Asia Cup and as we checked in they scored and the locals watching in reception went nuts.

We wandered down to the lake and watched the madness of Hanoi unfold before our very eyes from the balcony of the river view restaurant. After the game ưhich ended 1-1 evẻyone in Hanoi seemed to get on their motorbike and drive around the lake tooting their horns, waving flags and generally having a blast. I'll upload some photos when I have a chance and may stick some footage on You Tube.

This morning we checked out of our hotel as the girl on reception was very pushy and trying to get ú to sign up for all kinds of stuff. It ưas also on a main street and Hanoi is a busy and noisy place! We found a nice hotel down a quiet side street but unfortunately it was full, but the guy said they have anothẻr hotel not far and he would get someone to come and take ús there. We were ẽpecting to walk but 2 guys showed up on motỏbikes and we hopped on the back, complete with our large backpacks! We sped through the traffic and held on for dear life - the drivers were completely relaxed and after a minute I began to ẹnoy it - crazy though it was.

Anyway we are now in our new hotel - quieter and nicer. We are going to try and get tickets for the Japan v United Arab Emirates gamê tonight - Lynn can hardly contain her joy - and also book a 3 night/4 day trekking tour in the Sapa region.

I'll be in touch.