Beach Bums

17th-18th August

17th.

The bus from Hue to Hoi An was only 3 hours, so not much wrong with that. We passed some nice scenery on route to our destination and finally saw the sight of the beach through the bus window, and it was a pretty sight after all the city life. We got off the bus at a conveniently situated hotel, all preplaned by the bus operator of course, but we saw the rooms and agreed on a fair price which included, a breakfast, a swimming pool, a sattelite tv ,a bicycle and a wi fi hotspot in the room, and the price of $15 was not too bad either. We were more than happy with that arrangement so we settled in to our room. First we took a dip in the pool before taking the bikes to town and checking some prices for tailor made suits. The price was a little higher than in Thailand, so we are gonna wait for Bangkok before getting some made. The day was drawing to a close so we retired to our sleeping quarters for a good nights rest.

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18th.
Today the weather was bright and sunny so we set off to the beach, only a mere 2 km cycle. We passed rice fields and rivers on route before getting to the beach. On arrival the competition was fierce for our custom, and the deal was that you get the sun chair for free if you buy lunch from the cafe during the day. That sounded fair, so we settled in and took a dip in the hot blue south china sea. It was just paradise, only slightly spoiled by the number of sellers on the beach. You can buy anything from newspapers, to peanuts, to zippo lighters, anything you want but prepare to bargain hard for it. The favourite saying is "happy houaar for you, you make me happy, I make you happy" and thats how it all begins. But we had a peaceful day none the less even with the small interruptions, books are being read at a fierce pace.

Whenever we got bored of reading we would bury each other in the sand. That was so much fun. I felt like i was a little child again.

David

buried in the sand

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Angela

"That was so much fun...again again again"

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Boats

Little cute round boats that you can rent and paddle around in the sea like a little tiny sailor

...maybe tomorrow...

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Russia/Vietnam

David just had to take a photo :)

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Angela

On the way home. It's so hard to paddle when your bum is soar from the saddle

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We returned to the hotel and took another dip in the pool before dinner. We discovered that we slightly over did it in the sun, and now have red faces to show for it. But thats what happens on the hot hot sunny beach. We then checked out more of the old town, and found it to be lit up beautifully with multi coloured lanterns and quiet streets. We instantly found it to be a perfect relaxing town to be in. Once again we finished the day with an ice cold beer, and some sleepy time. More beach laying tomorrow.

Angela & David

Sightseeing Hue

16th August

Angela & David

are now ready to face another day of new sights

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The 7am alarm sounded, and we were not bright eyed or bushy tailed this morning due to lack of sleep. But we got up and went through the daily process of grooming and getting the bag ready for the days adventures. We went to the boat for our tour of the cities tombs and temples. First stop was a taste of the old Vietnamese Kung Fu, as performed by a small group of fighters. They were entertaining and performed well for our pleasure. However, before entering there, we did find an old German tourist who started yelling at the tour guide because he had to pay for all the entrance fees, which he thought were included. It sounds like somebody was naughty naughty and told him a little lie in order to sell the tour package for his family (Oops, that is a first where a Vietnamese person tells lies to gain some dollars........NOT).

Brave man indeed!
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Hang in there man!

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Everybody was kung fu fighting...Uh Ah!
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Happy man
Waved hello and blushed when i took his picture...aww!
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But away we went and visited the Tu Kieu Pagoda where we wondered around for a few minutes and found out some interesting facts about the buddhist way of life.
We got our lunch on the boat as promised, it was small, but food is food. We met some very nice people while munching on the fried rice, so we talked to them for awhile. Back to the boat then for a cruise to the Minh Mang tomb, it being the biggest tomb in Hue and we chose to go inside to check it out. The tomb was nice and its setting within surrounding lakes was great. However, the heat was at its fiercest then, so we were trying to battle with the sun, which probably took a little away from the tombs beauty (What the hell, sure there are plenty more tombs to see at another destination).

Angela
Hiding from the sun under the tree
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Buddhist children,
playing "lets strangel each other"
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Water buffalo trying to cool down in the hot weather
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We stopped at a incense making village, and drove this time to yet another tomb (this one however we deicded to sit and have a beer instead). There we met some Danish people with whom a discussion was had about Russian F16 jets flying over their airspace, they were not happy bunnies, but David didn't tell them that he was Russian, so that was fun. This was the end of a long day of touring around, so it needed to be topped off with a fine meal in 'Little Italy Restaurant', with the couple we met from Israel on the tour. We chatted, we drank some beers, I had a pina colada wannabe drink (which was disgusting),and we parted with a swap of the facebook details and went on our merry way to the hotel of ours. On the way, we couldn't resist popping into Mr Cu's Mandarin Cafe to pick up yet another picture, and we found time to drink another beer there too.
Tonight David watched football yet again, so I surfed the net yet again. This time I was determined to go to sleep early, but that didn't happen either as we stayed up til 1.30 am for some unknown reason. Ah well, its Hoi An in the morning for some beach bumming, can't wait for some lazy time. Screw the temples, sometimes enough is enough.

Angela & David

The worst night EVER!

14th-15th August

Angela...

...lying in a proper seat. Vietnamese guy...lying on the floor kicking my knees and stuffing toes in Davids nose

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We got on the bus to Hue, in time and safe and sound. Great news we thought, but what was to follow was not so good. Well the sleeper seat were comfortable for the first few minutes until some Vietnamese people got on. They sat right beside us, and guess what, they didn't have seats exactly, they had the isle of the bus as their sleeping chair. We first thought ok, well they will get off soon and its only for a couple of hours but as it happened they were going the whole way. They got comforable on the hard rock floor, with no blankets and nothing but themselves. As the hours went on then the snoring started and then the feet of the man started to creep up onto our chairs. I kneed his feet once or twice but he felt nothing, then he went ovetr to David's side with the foot right by his face. What a way to travel, eh. We were not very happy bunnies. We got to Hue at around 9 am and everyone go off. We went up to the representitive of Camel travel, and told him the story and his response was "oh the driver just did it to get extra cash" and "oh it will not happen again, promise, promise" so we have yet to see, when we go again.

David

with the bike and the temple

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The first day in Hue involved us finding a place to live, which was easy and cheaper than Hanoi. So we went wandering around the town and stumbled upon the 'Mandarin Cafe', which is owned by Mr. Cu. He is a photographer and a very good business man as we found out. We got fed watered and rented some bicycles to get around. We went to the Citadel, and had a great fun sweaty time on our bikes. The freedom and the wind in our hair was a fantastic feeling, we checked out the market which was not anything special with yet more angry Vietnamese people, only this time they were selling fruit. Seemingly bargaining about fruit is not the way to go and they get very upset and ignore you if you have anymore questions. Oh well, no fruit for us this time, but its their loss because we were gonna buy the whole orchard this day. After returning the bikes back we ended up eating and having some drinks in Mandarin Cafe again, and lord behold we bought some pictures from him. They are fantastic photos and capture exactly what we want, the people of Vit Nam in their true glory, so we were more than pleased. We went back to rest and get ready for our tour of the city tomorrow. Too much in one day gets us tired, but I still could not sleep. Maybe over tired from the whole day, but David was out for the count as he watched the first day of the premiership and had some beers and some southern comfort from a water bottle. Life on the road, is as good as it gets.

Citadel Fort

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Old old tanks
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David

in the smelly fruit market, which brought me back to the streets of Delhi
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Angela & David

Davids kayake oar sank

14th August

Today waking up was a slight problem, with again some dry mouth syndrome and dehydration at its worst. But up we went as we were on a tight schedule, and breakfast was done and dusted in minutes.

Kayaking around the bay was our next priority, but once again the rain started pouring down, which in fact made it a nice adventurous trip around the limestone rocks of Halong Bay. We paddled to little caves and back out again, while admiring the view and once more the tranquility of the bay. Then David decided to test out if the paddle would float, and it did float, well for a short while at least. Suddenly it started to sink and David could not grab it out of the water, so we watchd in horror the paddle disappear deep into the green coloured water of the bay. Oh oh we thought, now we are in trouble, as nothing comes for free in Vietnam or in the rest of the world so it was just a matter of seeing how much it will cost. On the way back i paddled with shaky arms and we were trying to come up with a different story rather then come back and say "Oh we just wanted to see if it could float" But couldn't think of anything clever at the moment. So we decided that David would sneek up on the back of the floating little house and take off his lifevest and pretend he never went on it, but on arrival back to base, the dollar signs lit up in the owners of the kayaks face. (she knew what we'd been up to) She was very excited and kept shouting "I give you two, I give you two" la la la blah blah blah". Anyways the price was a $20 dollar fine. (The situation is this, when there is a problem with the room, (for example our room on the boat- the water was dripping onto our luggage for hours) all they say is "I very sorry sir, very sorry", BUT when you break or loose something of theirs, they say "you pay, you pay now", so the moral of the story is.......you break it then you pay for it, you have a problem then you pay for it aswell, so on and so forth. But it was funny coming back with just one ore...haha

(I bet that woman swam down looking for the oar the next day just to make some extra business)

Angela

The lifevest felt a bit big

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Angela

Some people can't get pretty, no matter how hard they try

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David is...

...showing off his big pumped up arms for me
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Handstands competition

Once again the Scandinavians were the strongest, and lasted the longest

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We sailed back in time to catch the bus back to Hanoi City, and then catch our bus to Hue in central The bus is going to take 13 hours, overnight. But its a sleeper bus, so praying for it to be comfortable at least a little bit.

Angela & David

A cruise in Halong Bay

13th August

Halong Bay in black and white...

and with a lot of boats

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This morning we set off on the 3.5 hour journey to Halong City, where we will cruise around Halong Bay and then sleep on a "junk" (weather permitting). The day started off sunny and nice, and the trip was on the way. We met some nice people from various places, and our cruise began. When we got out into the bay, the scenery was amazing, with the limestone cliffs sticking out of the sea unlike anything we have ever seen. We took many pictures, while sitting on the sun deck of the boat and enjoyed the peaceful cruise along the bay. The lunch was served at 1 pm, and we devoured everything that was put on our plate.

Some very nice Spanish people we met on the boat

sharing food with me and David

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After that we settled into our room and got ready to explore the caves of Halong Bay, thats when the rain started pouring down from the heavens. It didn't put us off however, and we still managed to enjoy the sights. We swam in the green waters, and got aquainted with our new found friends. We got on the boat after the swim and got ready for dinner time and some light refreshments that followed. The dinner was aging pretty nice, and plenty of it too.

The rocks of Halong Bay

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Some had some chilling out to do on sundeck!

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Inside the cave

You can see many figures if you look long enough, can you see the dinosaur that David found?

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The view from "Amazing cave"

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Then the beers started flowing, (well for me anyway as David is on another set of anti biotics), as the boat parked up for the night in a sheltered bay in Halong Bay. We stayed up, we chatted, I drank and many travel stories were shared, until the heavy thundery rain got us of the sun deck. It was around 1 am and time to sleep, (typically the Scandinavians were the last ones standing), as we had an early breakfast in the morning and some kayaking to follow.

Ryan and Angela

trying the zoolander pose

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Angela & David

Lots Of Noodle Soup

12 August

David

will always love food more then me ;)

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Today was our last day in Hanoi, so we found a place to stay. And off we went exploring the mean streets of Hanoi City. We went to the old quarter, and shopped for some art work that we really liked and proceeded to the post office to send a few things back home to lighten the load on our poor shoulders. As it happens people in the international parcel office tell you only about the high priced way off sending things, as if they were getting some cut of the profits. Well that is just what Vietnam is all about it seems, money, money and rip off the tourist as much as you can. Well that goes for all the countries we have visited so far actually. After successfully sending the parcel, we needed some well deserved dinner. We stumbled upon a place called Pho 24, basically a noodle soup with beef specialists. And they did not disappoint, the food was exellent there and reasonably priced too, so we were pleased. The day ended with us packing our bags again as the trip to Halong Bay was in the morning......exciting stuff. Hope the weather stays good, as we are sleeping on the boat that night.

David

is so proud of himself for finishing that soup, that could well have been for 4 people

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Angela & David

Tonnes of sweat

11th August

Today we woke up to the sound of the hills. The muscles were still aching from the trek the day before, but we were ready for another day of hill climbing and fresh air. We washed our faces, and gathered our bags in anticipation. For breakfast we were given freshly made pancakes and some tea, and a banana thrown in for good measure, and we were on our way. Again, before we set off on the trek, we were escorted by another group of females from the tribes there.

David in Bamboo Forest

Getting his crocs dirty in the mud, there was no way to avoid dirt that day.

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Sapa woman

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The terrain was much more difficult than yesterday with hills and wet mud slides to come. On route we climbed a mountain, went cautiously down a mud slide, crossed via the bamboo forest, over a shaky bridge, and finall on an asphalt road for the last four kilometers. In total roughly 12 km, give or take a few. On route we got to experience the anger of a tribes lady, her exact words were " why you not buy from me, I walk you, I help you.....wh you not buy from me?". She also tried the polite approach aswell, but the problem being that we actually had no money left on us from the day before, when we did buy many things from them. Ah well, tomorrow is another day for her and another tourist shall feel her wrath. As for us we were home and dry.

The bridge over the river

Needs a lot of fixing

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The view was stunning everywhere we went
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As the walk was coming to an end, we were passing one girl that was sitting by herself at the side of the road. We gave her a chocolate biscuit, and as soon as she saw it her face lit up with a smile. Then she openend her mouth and started screaming to her fellow brothers and sisters. We didn't understand the language, but whe we saw about 7 girls and boys run out from the house all wanting a sweet then we knew what she was shouting about. We could not please everyone as we only had a few left, but I hope they can share.

The sapa girl...
...that went crazy when we gave her a cookie and alarmed to her brothers and sisters
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After lunch, we were brought to the hotel for a shower and to catch our train back to Hanoi that night. We had a fantastic time in Sapa, and glad we had the chance to go there. Truly enjoyed it and got some exercise aswell, which is a bonus.
On the train back we were sharing our room with two Vietnamese ladies, who were sick as hell. So hopefully not the swine flu........Also they were very loud on the phone as all of them seem to be over here, it seems that the further away the person they are ringing, the louder they shout. Ah well, thats the joys of it all. Anyway, we arrived safe and sound to Hanoi train station at 5 am to start another day.

Angela & David

Sapa Trekking

10th August

Arrival in Lao Cai at 6 am was painful for a minute or two. As a few hundred zombies stepping off a train all went for their respective buses, we caught ours without any real problems. We started our 1 hour journey into the hills and around the cliffs, the view was getting pretty nice from up there, and on arrival to the hotel meeting point we were greeted by a tribe of kids, and their mothers and whoever else was around the town. Their screams of excitement was noticeable, they definitely have seen tourists before, and thats for sure. Everyone was trying not to make too much eye contact at first, while we got our bearings and were split into groups.
But after breakfast, and after getting settled into our walking crocs and packing our bag for the overnight homestay, we were allocated a group guide, her name was ZHI. Or as she is bettered known after the trip as Cra-zhi! But away we went, in fact we started off with not just one guide but the whole tribe was walking with us from town to the hills. We all got asked the same questions one by one, "Whats your name?", "How old are you?", "Where you come from?", these are all the words that most of them knew, so you can imagine the 4 hour trek ahead of us. But as it happened they were all trying to be nice to us, and we also had spent a lot of time talking to the rest of the trekkers on the same tour as us. So all was well. The scenery was amazing, all the beautiful rice fields and mountainous terrain was great. We went through villages along the way, one family even invited us to come in to their little crib and have a look around. We could see that beans was cooking for lunch in a pot over an open fire, we all became a big happy family. This all of course has to end sometime, after all there is a price to pay for people to walk with you for many kilometers and up hills. So before settling for lunch, all the hill people turned from friendly to money thirsty bloodhounds. They whipped out their handmade quilts, wall hangings, pillow cases etc and surrounded their walking companions. We ended up buying a few things, well it was easier than trying to get away plus the things are hand made and pretty nice.

Angela's Best Friend

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Sapa Woman and Baby
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Kids doing what kids do

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Angela & David

+ the 2 very nice ladies, much older than us, that helped us walk down the mountain

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After lunch, we had different hill people walking us, and so the same outcome, same questions and same result. More selling, more buying and more of the same. But don't let me scare you, it was a great day, and the people were fun to walk with. David even got a few nicknames...first 'Monkey man', then 'Monster man' then 'Stupid monkey', but they were only kids, and i'm sure they didn't mean it (or did they???). One thing for sure anyway, they did not like his beard.
The day finished with a lot of pain in our legs, after the 10km trek over the mountains and rice fields, and a great feast was cooked for us by the Dzay people. Then some 'Happy Water (rice wine)' followed and some more getting to know the fellow travellers, and of course some sleep too. Next day still another 12km of trekking to do.

Yes, we did walk nearly all the way to the last mountain!

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Angela

Scary business

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Angela & David

A 165$ expensive clinic visit

9th August

After waking up in the morning, we strolled down to book a Sapa trip. We didn't go far, just to Hanoi Backpacker travel, as recommended by some people we met before. Got that sorted and checked out of the room, not without a fight over water of course. The Vietnamese get very angry very quickly, well this guy did anyway. So after a small anger management course, we went about our daily mission. This was to find some paintings for purchase, and so we walked and walked, and ended up in International SOS to get David's ears checked out at a price of course. Hopefully the insurance will cover some of it.....

After that, I had decided to get my hair cut at a salon in Hanoi.....and result being (my experience with Asian people cutting my hair whether in Ireland or in their home country is still the same, not satisfactory). But I suppose it will grow back soon (It better grow back soon). After that, time was short before our Sapa departure, so we caught some of the best ever tasting spring roll's in Kiti's restaurant and set off on our journey overnight to the hills. We met some nice people on the train, where we all slept happily ever after (The trains are pretty comfy here, so it was enjoyable to say the least).

Kittis delicious spring rolls

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Angela & David

Spaghetti with a comb

Vietnamese ladies,

burried in stuff that they want you to buy
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Finally a 16 hour sleep has rested our travelled bodies and we are ready to face the busy busy streets of Hanoi. At first outing the mayhem on the streets was obvious. Motorbikes going everywhich way, and crossing the street was a challenge that we mastered quite fast. Basically close your eyes and start walking, and hope that their brakes work and you make it to the other side. After that achievement we sampled some art gallery life in Hanoi, of which there are many. All nice art which we intend to buy at a later stage. Then, we cooled down at a water puppetry theatre where we watched the wooden puppets dance on water, with grace. We didn't want it to end as going outside was like jumping into fire.....hot hot hot! Anyway, we visited the lake temple and continued on our quest to familiarise ourselves with the city limits. The city is chaotic but has a great charm about it. People are friendly enough, and of course try to sell you stuff, but in a somewhat polite way. Basically they can still take no for an answer, in fact if we had to pick a word that we used more often than most on theis trip, it would definitely be NOOOOOOOO!

Water puppet show

The puppets

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David

and the big bonsai tree

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Old Vietnamese men

passing time, playing and talking rubbish

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On our way back to our guesthouse, we grabbed some refreshing beers, while watching 'Seven' in basically somebodies livingroom. But the beer was cheap and friendly. And what does beer do to people, well it makes them hungry so it was time for some pizza and spaghetti bolognese which we got a take away to our room, and some more refreshing Tiger beers to follow! When i opened my plastic container with the spaghetti bolognese I looked up at David and said "David, what are we going to eat with??" I spent the next few minutes going through our things to see if i could find anything to eat with. Last place to check was the toilet and i found i comb (It was sealed in plastic)....well if you don't have anything else... ;) . What a good day, all in all.

Movie time

In a randome strangers home!

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Angela

eating Spaghetti Bolognese with a comb!

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Angela & David

A bloody long journey

7th-8th August

David

Relaxing on the bus from Langkawi-Kuala Lumpur

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Oh dear! That was a lo----ng 24 hour journery. We left Malaysia and Langkawi at 11.45am on the 6th and arrived in our guest house in Vietnam at 11.45am on the 7th!! It wasn't just the sleepless night that bothered us, but the few troubles on the way aswell had a part to play.

Angela

Only pretending to sleep, i was awake, i promise!!

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First of all. We arrived in Kuala Lumpur after an 8 hour bus ride. When we got to KL Central Station we just missed the last 10.30pm bus to the airport. And of cours, there was a taxi man ready to attack! So instead of paying 3euro for the local bus we had to pay the taxi man 14eoru (140kr) to get to the airport! Like we didn't dislike them enough before that!
We were in the airport at around 11.30pm and had about 7 hours before hour flight to Vietnam. We played cards, drank a hell of a lot of coffee and tried to stay awake. We made it, only thanks to coffee and support from each other.

Sunrise from above

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Angela & David

Getting ripped off by Bike Driver

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Arriving in Vietnam (Hanoi) at 9am with only about 1 hour of sleep on the plane. We were exhausted and tired as hell. As we left the airport there was hundreds of Vietnamese people waiting to welcome their familes. We did not have any friends or family to welcome us, but we did have a lot of taxi men waving and smiling at us. That just made us more tired! We took a local bus, it brought us close to the central. When we got off there was a man with a bicycle that straight away wanted us to go with him. First he wanted 3.50euro (35kr) but we got him down to 2euro. When we arrived and got off the bike we payed him, and he said "Noooo, 2euro EACH" and then David said "No fucking way" (we did get warned about this ,you have to pay before you go and then keep on telling him while you are on the bike that you payed him, but we were tired and forgot) We got to the guest house eventually. And for only 17$ we got a lovely room. We freshened up and went straight for some lunch. When we got back "home" we tried to stay awake until about 5.30pm and then we passed out and slept for 16 hours straight!
　
Angela & David