Tibet knocks Cambodia off top spot.........

I have sat down to write the blog for Tibet 3 times & each time have walked away from an empty screen. I don't know where to start....how to convey exactly how I feel about the place...how to do it justice. All I can do is my best....

Photo: Lhasa Airport


We only had to arrive in Tibet to full head over heels-in-love with the place. I was struck immediately by how wide & blue the sky was. It reminded me of how much I miss blue sky & how long it has been since I have seen it. We were met at the airport by our guide, Mr T - it is a condition of our stay that we are accompanied by a guide at all times in Tibet. We were lucky enough to be assigned a Tibetan guide however he was constantly shadowed by a Chinese driver who's other job was to spy on Mr T & report back to the Government if he said anything "inappropriate". Before we were allowed into the van, Mr T presented us each a white Tibetan prayer scarf to welcome us to his country. (I will refer to Tibet as a country cos as far as I'm concerned it is one!). On the way into town we stopped off on the side of the road to see a large buddha carved into the side of a hill. It was beautifully painted with bright colours & decorated with rows & rows of prayer flags. Looking back over my photos from our first few hours in Tibet I am struck by how strongly the colours jump off the screen, a far cry from the haze of smog that can be seen in all our photos from China.

Photo: Carved Buddha draped in the white scarves the same as the ones given to us at the airport

Lhasa is the capital of Tibet & is located at just over 3,000m altitude so we took the rest of the afternoon easy....a gentle walk around town & a small dinner. The next morning we ventured to the magnificent Potala Palace - home of all the past Dalai Lama's...all except the current one who is exiled in India. The Potala Palace is breathtaking. The peace you feel as you enter the grounds is overwhelming. Many buddhists make the pilgrimage to the Palace to make offerings to the various gods & pray at the tombs of the many Dalai Lama's buried there. We are lucky that the Chinese driver is not with us today but it sad to see Mr T look around nervously before answering many of our questions. It is forbidden to talk about the current Dalai Lama & there are no images or references to him at all in the Palace. The views from the top of the Palace take in the whole of Lhasa & what a breathtaking sight. A low rise city in the shadow of a sprawling mountain range.....did I mention the wide expanse of blue sky??

Photo: The magnificent Potala Palace

Photo: A monk carrying his rosary beads

Photo: Looking out over Lhasa

One of the lovely things about travelling around in Lhasa is that the public buses are cheap, easy to use & best of all safe. The locals on the bus would smile at us, laugh with us (& at us) & try & give up their seats for us. On one trip there was a little old lady with a tiny puppy on her lap. When she noticed us making goo goo eyes at it she handed it over without hesitation for a cuddle. Just the sweetest people!

The afternoon was spent shopping in the streets around the other main temple in the middle of town - Jokhang Temple. All Tibetan buddhists are expected to make a pilgrimage to the Temple at least one in their lifetime. The pilgrimage must be made on foot, from their home.....which could be 1,000kms away. Once at the Temple, the pilgrims are required to walk around & around the outside of the Temple & then prostrate themselves on the ground repeatedly infront of the entrance. All while chanting a prayer over & over again. It doesn't end there though. If you are a super devout Buddhist who wants to prove his or her committment you would make the pilgrimage by talking one step sideways, prostrating yourself, standing back up & repeating...all the way from home!! Serious stuff! Did I mention that all while each pilgrim carries a prayer wheel which they must keep spinning in a clockwise direction in rhythym with their chant. Inside each wheel is a long, ribbon of paper which contains their prayer.

Photo: A pilgrim protrates himself outside the temple



Unfortunately it was while strolling around the town that we notice anothor disturbing legacy of the "cultural revolution" - on every street corner & every roof top were armed guards. Now, I'm not just talking one local copper, no I'm talking groups of 4 - 8, fully armed, dressed in riot gear, Chinese, military police. Your full on commando style soldier. They are there to react should they see any sign of uprising & to handle any "innappropriate" behavior. Amidst all this, the Tibetans just go about there business & live their lives as normally & peacefully as they can.


All around the Jokhang Temple are little market stalls selling the most amazing silver jewellery, rosary beads, teapots & old (& not so old) Tibetan artifacts. It was so much fun haggling with the stall holders & even more interesting when a little old Tibetan lady came over & grabbed Andrew by the elbow & dragged him away. I thought here we go - but all she did was whisper in his ear "Don't buy from that lady, she is Chinese!!"....from that moment on, we made sure we bought from the Tibetans only.


Don't get me wrong, I loved China & had an amazing time travelling around there & learning about their culture....I just take issue with them coming into Tibet & not only distroying so much of their heritage but for altering their way of life & changing their culture for future generations.


The next morning we visited the Sera Monastry. It is a working monastry which in the past housed thousands of monks.....it now houses less than 300. Inside the monastry there was evidence of some of the Chinese propaganda from the "cultural revolution" painted on the wall.....although, somehow, it had been whitewashed over & could only just be seen under the paint. Also of interest was a portrait of Chairman Mao - or should I say the outline on the wall where the portrait used to be. Somone had carefully chipped his face off the wall leaving only the outline of his head. This part of the monastry is currently being restored so when I return to Lhasa (hopefully soon!!), these features will no longer be visable!!

Photo: The lovely Sera Monastry

Photo: Buddhas...painted everywhere!

Photo: Where's Mr Mao gone???

The afternoon saw us at another monastry - Drepung Monastry. It is here that we were privilaged enough to witness the great monk debates. It is a tradtional, old practice where the young monks gather in the courtyard every afternoon to "debate" or question the theories they are studying or the issues of the day. What makes this so interesting & entertaining is that the listener sits, crossed legged on the ground while the questioner stands above him & claps his hands while firing off questions. It makes for a very noisy & animated debate. All the while, gathered around the outer edges of the courtyard are the older monks - on hand should any of the debaters get a little over enthusiastic! Quite a magnificant sight.

 Photo: Monks debate their hearts out!

Photo: Nothing wrong with a bit of Monk love!!

Later that evening we made our way back to the Potala Palace to witness it at night. It is subtly lit from underneath & makes for an imposing sight set high up on the hill. As a strange contrast to the Palace, the Chinese have installed a water & light show (much like the one in front of The Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas!!) in the square under the Palace. So you turn one way & you have a centuries old monastry & you turn 180 degrees & you have a 21st century water installation. Tibet is definitley a country of contrast.

Photo: All lit up at night

The following day we got to visit the Jokhang Temple - or the temple in the middle of town with all the prostrating pilgrims. It was another lovely, peaceful place & it was nice to see what the pilgrims do once they are inside their "holy grail". The temple was beautiful but the trip there was one of things that sums up our experience on Tibet. We were catching the bus into town & we realised that the driver & conductor were the same ones from the day before. We knew this because as we approached the bus they were both hanging out the windows, waving, smiling & laughing....very excited that we would choose to catch their bus again. Seriously, the bus rides were a real highlight!!

We were also lucky enough to be able to visit a small nunnery not far from the Jokhang Temple. These ladies were amazing. Bigger smiles I don't think I've ever seen. They were making the prayer papers to go inside the hand held prayer wheel as carried by each pilgrim. They sang & swayed while they worked & were very happy to talk to us & answer questions. Inside the nunnery thay have a small temple, a tea house & a shop & the whole place is kept imacculately clean. I was taking photos of some flowers when one of the nuns snuck over & started posing in front of them like a supermodel - very funny!! Of course I laughed, then she laughed then grabbed me in a big, bear hug, slapped me on the back & went back to her day!!

Photo: One of the beautiful nuns!

At dinner on our last evening I got to talking to one of the young waiters. He had noticed me standing on my own, looking out over the roofs adjacent to our top floor restaurant. (I was actually taking photos of the cats sleeping on the roof!!). He went away & came back with some off-cuts of meat which he threw for them so that they would come closer & he laughed at me ooh-ing & aah-ing over a couple of stray moggies. As we stood there, he asked me in a low, hushed whisper if I knew of the current Dalai Lama? I said that I knew about him & his eyes lit up. He then asked me if I had met him. Of course, I said no but I conveyed my dismay at the current situation. Now this young man didn't speak much English but he said something that will stay with me forever. He looked straight into my eyes & said "I have sadness in my heart". I just wanted to cry. He is 17 & he said he will have to leave if things don't change. What a sad situation for a country of warm, welcoming, peaceful people.

Photo: Afore mentioned stray cats!

So I hope I have done Tibet justice. It is with sadness that I boarded the plane to leave - it was a place that really got under my skin. If it was any consolation, as we were flying to Kathmandu in Nepal we did get to fly over the magnificent Himilayan Mountains & we did get a jaw-dropping, birds eye view of Everest. What a sight!!

Photo: Oh yes, that is Mount Everest!!

But Daddy, I want a panda........

We disembarked our luxury cruise ship at Chongqing and began our day of transport.....we took a bus to the airport, flight to Guilin, taxi to the bus station, bus to Yangshuo then we walked 4kms to our hotel....pheew!


Yangshuo is a lovely little town at the foot of the mountains, surrounded by small villages & rice paddies. It was a bit of a hippy town in it's day & it still has that relaxed feel about it. It was decided that to enjoy our surroundings fully we would go on a bike ride. I havn't ridden a bike for about 15 years & it is safe to say I am probably the worst bike rider in the history of the world! I was absolutely terrified. I couldn't tell you about a single sight along the 25km trail we cycled. No, I kept my eyes planted firmly on the ground in front of me as the image in my mind of me flying through the air & landing face first in the dirt played over & over. Not fun, never again, the end! Andrew did say something really nice at the end though, he said that if Nicole Kidman & I were both auditioning for the role in BMX Bandits, they would have definitely picked me!! Bless! P.S Everyone else had a ball & said the ride was spectacular....whatever!

To make up for my horror morning, I decided to have a traditional Chinese "relaxation" massage. Again, I think we lost a lot in translation cos I spent the next hour going "ow, ow, ooooowww!!" while the tiny Chinese lady laughed & laughed! As if that wasn't enough pain for one day I then decided to be really brave & have some acupuncture. It was actually really nice & relaxing & something I will do again at home.

Another flight & another new city - Kunming. Merely the departure point for our final overnight train (unless you count a visit to Walmart). An 11pm departure, 8 hours with stops every 15 minutes, no air conditioning (temps in the 30's), toilet smells wafting through the cabin all night.....enough said??

Photo: Walmart - Chinese style!

We arrived in Dali early in the morning & were lucky enough to get our rooms straight away. Dali is a gorgeous little town in the shadow of Cangshan Mountain. The old town is surrounded by a beautiful, stone wall which we were lucky enough to climb onto for stunning, panoramic views of the whole town. A short trip out of town is the Three Pagodas complex. Entrance into the complex was quite steep & you can see the pagodas from the road so being tight arse backpackers, we took our photos over the wall & went back to town!!

Photo: Our view of the Three Pagodas!! (I should note that the slight haze over all our photos from China is the ever present smog)

Later that day we were walking back into town & we noticed a parade of people walking down the street throwing fire crackers & singing. We got all excited & started taking photos and waving at the marchers. We were trying to figure out what they were celebrating when suddenly we noticed a small glass box being carried on a platform by a dozen or so men. These men were being followed by a huge group of women crying & waving their hankies. It was a funeral.....whoopsies! We skulked off sheepishly before we were arrested or something for being disrespectful.

Photo: Does it look like these guys are grieving??

Not long after that we were doing some shopping & we noticed a couple of older, Chinese men trying to take sneaky photos of us......with massive cameras bearing giant lenses...not so stealth! We took photos of them taking photos of us & we all had a laugh. Another memory we will take away from Dali was the discovery of the best chocolate milkshakes in the world....random but true.

Photo: I love being a rock star!

Now it was time to embark on the epic Tiger Leaping Gorge trek. Day one was a lazy 10kms to Mr Nice's house....and yes, he really is nice! The hike was tough, uphill mostly & very hot but it was merely a taste of what was to come. After a fantastic dinner, reasonable sleep & lovely cooked breakfast it was time to hit the trails again....all 18kms of them! The other thing I forgot to mention is that this hike is at approximately 3,000m altitude so being out of breath is a given. The trek itself turned out to be not too bad & the views were magnificent. Miles & miles of mountains and the never ending river crashing below us. I can't say I was sad to see Tina's (our next bed for the night) as we came around the final bend but I was sad when it dawned on me that we still had about 2 hours of downhill to negotiate before a hot shower. It was the downhill that was the killer....must have old knees or something :) Finally we were down & it felt like quite an achievement, quite a mountain to conquer.

Photo: The breathtaking view from the courtyard at Mr Nice's

Photo: With my head literally in the clouds!


Our ordeal didn't end here however......next morning we were soooo happy to discover that we would  the travelling by mini van back to the starting point instead of having to walk the 10 or so kms along the flat road back to town. Sounds good aye......weeeeellllll, due to roadworks we spent most of the hour it took to negotiate the road, clinging to the side of the mountain approximately 700 metres above the afore mentioned crashing river & trying avoid being crushed by earth moving equipment or slipping off into oblivion. Can't tell you too much about the drive as I spent most of it with my head between my knees watching my life flash before my eyes...still it all worked out in the end!

This brings us to our next brief stop in the town on Lijiang. Lijiang is a strange contradiction of old, traditional buildings & lots of neon lights. It kinda reminded me of Disneyland....not in a good way!! As a matter of fact they actually charge to enter the "old" town but we managed to avoid paying every day quite easily just by walking past the surprising lax ticket office....makes us wonder if anyone actually pays?? Still we had a great time shopping here where haggling is somewhat of a sport. Lijiang is very popular with Chinese tourists (don't forget the Chinese have only very recently been permitted to leave their own village so the majority of tourists everywhere in China are Chinese). As there are soooo many Chinese tourists, our western money doesn't really excite the local stall holders much. This was proven over & over as we witnessed bus loads of Chinese, toting dozens of shopping bags each back to their tour buses at the end of each day. Our 100yuan each really didn't hit the sides. One funny story from Lijiang occurred one night after dinner. I spotted a "local" guy all dressed up in traditional garb, riding along on his horse with his dog on his lap. I whipped the camera out to take a photo & mid click he started to yell & point at me....turns out he doesn't dress up for the love of it. He wanted money & I wasn't paying. As I made a hasty retreat, I checked the offending photo.....a lovely shot of my sleeve!! In the panic I must have tried to cover the camera up just as I took the photo.....all that drama for nothing!! Oh well, it still makes me laugh!

Photo: Looking out over Lijiang at dusk

So a morning flight from Lijiang took us to Chengdu. A dirty, smoggy, unfriendly city in south western China. Apparently they havn't seen blue sky there for over ten years....I guess that explains why they were so unfriendly. Our visit to Chengdu was not about the city though....it was about the pandas. The city is famous for its Giant Panda Research Centre. I took over 300 hundred photos of the pandas so it is safe to say I'm in love. We came across a group of about 8 juvenile pandas who had just been fed and we were lucky enough to witness an hour long display of eating, playing & general showing off from some pandas who clearly love their public!

Photo: Number 67 of 300 shots......

That afternoon we headed into town where there is the Wenshu Si Temple & a fantastic vegetarian restaurant. Who knew tofu could taste like.....well anything?! Walking around the grounds of the temple we came a cross a group of old, Chinese men sitting under a rotunda, playing some sort of chess like game. They spoke no English & we had no idea how the game worked but we had a fantastic time barracking along for whoever was winning (we think) & they all wanted to pose for photos...very sweet really. On the way back to the hotel we decided on a detour to Tian Fu Square - where there is a giant statue of Chairman Mao waving out to his adoring public. It wasn't the statue which was memorable, rather the trip getting there. We were lost, nothing unusual for China, when a young guy spotted our bewildered looks & crossed the street to help us. We had a rather sad map & having taken one look at it, he decided that it would be easier for him to show us......so he walked with us, about 10 minutes down the road until we got to a corner where he could point the way. With a smile & a wave he went back to his business.....what a sweetheart.

Next morning we headed out of town to see the Giant Buddha. It was, well, giant. The photos tell the story but sadly the smog seemed to be the main star of the show. We did seem to attract a bit of attention from a group of teenagers who were ahead of us in the queue. When we got to the bottom of the Buddha, one of them got up the nerve to come over & ask for a photo. We posed & smiled & thought it would end there. Then I felt another tap on my shoulder & the young fella was back, this time with his mates & girlfriend. We all had to have a photo. The girls were so shy they wouldn't look us in the eye & hid behind there boyfriends when we talked to them. They were very sweet though & obviously very excited by there first encounter with some "western folk". I don't think I'll ever get used to being a tourist attraction. I seem to be rushing through this blog entry but it is only because I am so excited to get to Tibet..........

P.S Did I mention I love pandas??

Ni Hao from China

SO first impressions of China.......arrived in Beijing & can't believe how quiet it is. The airport is quiet, the streets into the city are quiet....and clean. The place seems so clean. Looks like the Olympics was good for the place. The other thing that becomes clear right from the moment we stepped off the plane is that we are freaks here! We get stared at at the baggage carousel, at the ATM, in the taxi queue...everywhere!! We make it into a taxi & we give the driver a map & the directions to our hotel in English & Chinese....he still gets lost! We made it eventually but it is a sign of things to come......the language barrier is going to be a challenge!
I would say we definitely started off in China with a bang.......Morning 1, The Great Wall Of China. I have been asked a lot what it is like & all I can say is "it's great!!". We travelled a couple of hours out of the city to a section of the wall called Simatai. Our first glimpse of the Wall takes our breath away. It is hard to comprehend that we are actually here & we are actually going to climb onto it. We don't just climb the wall, take a few photos & climb back down (like I had imagined). No, we trek along an 8km section. When I say trek, I mean trek. It is not a smooth, undulating, stone road but a steep, rocky and at times "crawl on your hands & knees" type scenario. How naive I had been. What an amazing experience though & what incredible views. We kept stopping & saying "I can't believe we are on The Great Wall Of China". I couldn't imagine a more perfect way to start our China adventure. So, back to Beijing.

Photo: The spectacular Great Wall Of China


We have a spare few hours to head to the silk market. It is here that I experience my first moment of sadness in China. A young girl who works in one of the tailors shops gets chatting with us. She explains that she works 30 days on, one day off & her work days start at 9am & end at 9pm. That's 12 days off per year plus a weeks holiday (unpaid) - & I thought I was a workaholic!! . Her family lives more than 5 hours out of Beijing so she can't visit them on her days off. The most interesting part is that she seems perfectly at ease with the situation. In her eyes "everyone else does it" & she is quite shocked to hear how easy we have it at home. She seems to be thinking "what on earth would you do with all that spare time???". Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore!
What is Beijing most famous for? Tienanmen Square. We headed in on the train (which is surprisingly easy to navigate) and found ourselves standing right on "the spot" where that famous photograph was taken. It's a bit scary, armed guards everywhere & the threat that with spies dotted through the crowd you'd better watch what you say or you get carted away - no questions asked! The square is between Mao's Mausoleum (we didn't go in - Andrew says that looking at one waxy, dead guy is enough for now!) and The Forbidden City. We are the only westerners in a sea of Chinese (I guess with a population of over 1.3 billion people that is bound to happen). We start the slow crawl onto the entrance tower & we spot something that makes us cry with laughter....amongst the throngs of people is another group of Westerners - Americans. They are with a tour group & their tour leader is holding aloft a sign for them to follow....it says "Disney Travel Group" & has Mickey Mouse ears....only the Americans could miss how ironic that looked....Mickey Mouse & Mao's portrait in the same picture!!

Photo: Wonder what Mao would say??

The Forbidden City is huge. Some beautiful old buildings & some really bad renovations. After spending a couple of hours poking around in the various halls & temples we made out way out the other side into Jingshan Park. A short walk up to the Pagoda on top of the hill & we are struck by the amazing, panoramic view of The Forbidden City & Beijing beyond...if only it wasn't for the smog. It seems that our first impression of how clean China is slipping slightly. Still we have some blue sky, the weather is beautiful.....& shit, we are in China!!

Photo: Smog not so pretty over the Forbidden Palace

Back on the train & a flying visit out to the Olympic Precinct. I have a strange fascination with the Birds Nest & am like a hyperactive child when we finally spot it! You can pay a ridiculous amount of money to go in & walk around the Birds Nest & Water Cube but I am happy sitting on the other side of the road repeating to myself "I can't believe I'm in China!". The locals think I'm mental...they're probably right!

Photo: Birds Nest Stadium


An overnight train takes us to Xian - home of the Terracotta Warriors. Andrew has been dreaming of this moment for years. Xian is a lovely old, walled city. We spend time exploring the markets & have a fantastic dinner on the street in the Muslim Quarter. In fact walking back from dinner, through the night market, I experienced my first taste of rock stardom. A couple of Korean guys stopped me & with some really bad sign language, asked me if I would mind having a photo...with them...how weird. I found myself wondering, what do they tell their families at home when they are all gathered around for slide night?? How do they explain these random tourists smiling happily, arms around each other like old friends......hmmmmm?

Photo: Scary terracotta men....grrrrrrrrrr

For us though, Xian is all about the warriors. They do not disappoint. We walk into the first aeroplane hanger & stretching out before us are hundreds of terracotta men. Some completely in tact, some with their heads blown off but all look fierce & surprisingly life like. Amongst the warriors are also horses, carriages & weapons & it the detail that blows us away. Each warrior has a different expression, different armour (depending on their rank) & a different pose. Quite extraordinary. We are luck enough to manage to stay ahead of the big tour groups & get quite a bit of time alone with the warriors. There is also a museum in the complex & we get an in depth look at everything from how they were constructed originally to how the local farmers discovered them while digging a well in the 1980's. There is even a quirky little "IMAX" film that shows the history of the site in surround sound. Out in the obligatory gift shop, we catch a glimpse of one of the farmers who discovered the warriors. His reward for the find is a small booth in the shop, rent free, where he can chose to sell whatever he wants.....that is his only reward....for one of the most significant historical finds in China's history. Interesting........

Next is a 15 hour day train (9am - 12am) to Yichang where we take in a small museum, do some supermarket shopping & generally prepare for our next week - a 4 day cruise on the Yangste River to experience the Three Gorges Dam Project. We boarded our cruise boat - The Blue Whale & headed for bed. The next morning we headed ashore to visit the Dam Wall & ship lock - yes many a joke was told that ended with "that damn wall!!". It is a very controversial project which was only completed recently. The construction of the wall across the river resulted in the river rising 175m, meaning that all the local communities that lived along the shoreline had to be relocated. We are talking millions of people who were simply told that in the name of progress, they would be required to leave their homes & move into giant high rise buildings, purpose built on higher ground. Oh, & by the way, you will like it! Gotta love communism. The wall is an amazing engineering feat but overall I am not impressed with the whole concept. The next few days pass with ease. We are fed like kings every 4 hours or so. We take in the odd shore excursion (more to keep our waist lines in check than for the historical significance I think). One trip we take is with the "boat trackers". A group of men who row you along the river in a boat & when you come to the shallows they jump out & pull you along with a rope. All in about 12 inches of mud.....& we hear that up until a couple of decades ago this was all done in the nude...what a shame to have missed that!

Photo: The view of our trackers from the boat

Photo: Awesome teeth!
 
We disembarked our luxury cruise ship at Chongqing and began our day of transport.....we took a bus to the airport, flight to Guilin, taxi to the bus station, bus to Yangshuo then we walked 4kms to our hotel....pheew! Time to explore our new home for the nest few days..........

Hanoi Hysterics

Andrew's favourite experience of the trip thus far was discovered on our first day in Hanoi.......Bia Hoi.....translation: 20c beer, drunk from juice glasses, on the street corner!! Bliss! After traipsing around the city, taking in such sites as Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum in the Presidential Palace (no smiling allowed), the One Pillar Pagoda & Hoan Kiem Lake, a slightly tepid home brew was heaven...apparently! Next morning we left for Halong Bay and onto a junk boat for an overnight stay. Halong Bay is a sight to behold. Around 3,000 limestone cliffs rising up out of bright green water the water & hundreds of old, wooden junk boats dotted around the bay.

As part of the trip we got to explore some local cliffs which have been lit up like Disneyland...very pretty though. Another new experience for me was kayaking - around the bay & into some smaller, enclosed pools of water that the junk boat was too big to navigate. I probably won't be head hunted by the Olympic team any time soon but I held my own! Once back on the boat the boys had fun jumping off the railing on the top deck into the chilly water.....even when a large jellyfish came swimming by they didn't seem perturbed. Sunset over the cliffs was gorgeous, although it was here that we discovered a rather large spot on the inside of lens on our camera....NOT HAPPY JAN! All these beautiful sunset shots with a strange alien shadow in the middle of every one :( On the way back to Halong City the next morning we decided (after eating a huge breakfast) that it was a brilliant idea to go ashore on one of the islands and climb Halong Tower....all 700 steps! In hindsight, not so clever.

On arrival back in Hanoi it was decided that some of us girls were in need of some hair removal and we discovered that our hotel had ties to a salon....perfect we thought! They even arranged & paid for a taxi to said salon where a lovely lady was waiting for us to escort us into the building....did I mention it was based at a hospital? Needless to say I had a rather "interesting" experience with the young, apprentice waxer. You don't need to know all the gory details, suffice it to say my bum cheeks ended up stuck together!!

As the tour was now over, we found ourselves at our new accommodation - the famous (or should I say infamous??) Hanoi Backpackers Hostel. Run by a couple of Aussie lads and as you can imagine, quite "laddish". We checked in & were excited to see that we had scored the "Penthouse". Translation: Walk down the street to another building, down an alley way and up four flights of stairs to the top floor where we find a double bed.....and that's about it. Oh yeah, and a window that looks out into an air con unit. At least the air con worked.......that's right, we knew the air con worked cos it dripped....all night! I spose we shouldn't expect too much for $16 per night. Now we feel like backpackers!

Over the next few days we spent more time exploring the city, discovered the best banana smoothies, had the camera lens cleaned (not very successful, will try again in Europe), went to the night market....oh & found the coolest little bar where the owner let us take over the giant TV so that we could watch Marky win in Spain...we might have even climbed on the table to have our photo's taken with Mark on the TV in the background...what a night!

On the evening of the following day we left on an overnight train to Sapa...famous for it's ethnic minority groups & their method of farming rice on terraces cut out of the mountain side, spectacular. Now when we booked the four day trip the brochure said "walk 12kms along beautiful rice terraces etc"...what transpired over the coming days was this:

Trekked (not walked) 9kms in the pouring rain down to a village & back again. Night 1 in the hotel. Trekked 12kms in the pouring rain to a homestay.Night 2 spent with a local family. Trekked 10kms out of the valley back to the hotel. Total 31kms. Did I mention it poured with rain for 2 out of the 3 days?? Now, having said all of that, the experience was amazing. From the tiny little local ladies who held me by the wrists to make sure I didn't end sliding down the mountain on my arse, to the patriarch of the homestay family, who's sole purpose for the evening was to get us all drunk on locally brewed rice vodka (apparently it doesn't give you a hang over but I think Andrew might have something to say about that!). The hospitality shown by all the local people we came across was heart warming and it was a memorable few days.

Sadly this is where things start to go a bit pear shaped. Having done all that walking in the rain I had developed a bit of a cold. This quickly progressed to a bad cold. We had arranged to leave for Halong Bay again in a few days time so I spent 3 days in bed in Hanoi trying to get better. Monday morning came & I wasn't going anywhere. Instead Andrew arranged for us to be taken to a local hospital...we were nervous. On arrival at SOS International Hospital we were greeted by a large staff of English speaking people...Thank God! They took me straight to a bed & the European doctor came & very efficiently arranged for every test, of every bodily fluid, known to man. Having ruled out Denghi Fever, Malaria & some other tropical disease I can't spell, I am slightly embarrassed to admit that I had the flu...Type B. (Oh, and a temperature of 39.8 degrees). Drugs were administered, rest was recommended & if I didn't feel better after a few more days come back & they would start all over again. $585US later, I felt better that at least I didn't appear to be dying so back to bed I went.

On Wednesday I got out bed & declared that I would be fine to leave for Halong Bay. We were picked up at 8am by bus for the 4 hour drive to the coast. By 10am I could hardly hold my head up & was deteriorating fast. We made it onto the boat where they could see that I was struggling & offered me a room to rest in for the 2 hour boat ride to Cat Ba Island (our intended destination). By the end of the boat ride I couldn't breathe (turned out to be a panic attack) & the local guide was making arrangements to get me to a hospital on the Island. It is times like this that the language barrier becomes a major obstacle. Normally a smile, some attempted Vietnamese & some made up sign language will suffice. Andrew was desperately trying to communicate with the locals - "Will there be a bus to meet us at the boat & take us to the hospital?", "Do they speak English?", "Is it a good hospital?"...the answer to all these questions was "Yes". So I was carried from the boat & the first hiccup....no bus at the dock. Instead we had to walk 1km to the bus station...when I say walk, I mean Andrew carried his big backpack, his day pack & me while some of the other lovely passengers carried my luggage. Then we had to wait 20 minutes for a bus to come. Second hiccup - the hospital. If you ask Andrew what he thought of the hospital he would say "It looked like something out of the war!". We walked (I was carried!) up 3 flights of stairs into a concrete room where 2 local guys were sitting at a table having a smoke...yep, in a hospital. Turns out one of them was the doctor. Third hiccup - no-one spoke English. They put me on a bed & the doctor started poking & prodding me. I just wanted to get out of there. Eventually Andrew just told them to organise a bus to the resort & we would sort everything out from there. In hindsight we realised that they actually must have known what they were doing. We checked the medication they had given me & it was identical to what the Hanoi doctor had prescribed - & better still it was $5US.

We eventually got to Cat Ba Island Resort where I went straight to bed.....& I think Andrew had a stiff drink. After another 4 days in bed & plenty of fluids I was on the mend. It was then that I realised what a weird place we were in. In the 5 days were there, we saw a total of 15 people...in the whole resort. We had the pool to ourselves, the restaurant to ourselves....& yep that was about all there was to do...pool, eat, sleep, repeat! It was just what I needed.

After 5 days we transferred back onto the boat to make our way back to the mainland & to Tuan Chau Island. A large island with "beautiful white sand on the man made beach" which is famous for hosting the 2008 Miss World Competition. I think that was possibly the last time anyone went there. We thought we had the place to ourselves on Cat Ba, but place was ridiculous. It was 3 days before we saw anyone else staying at the resort. We would go down for breakfast - full buffet - & be the only ones there. We did make one friend on the first day. A local guy who worked for the marketing department for the Island - clearly not doing a very good job! We had gone for a walk up the beach & had come across what looked like a shopping centre but turned out to be the dock for boats going to Cat Ba Island. He saw us & came running out of his office chattering away. He invited us in for a cup of tea & started pumping us for info about where we are from etc. Turns out his daughter lives in Sydney but he would really like to go to Melbourne....we wouldn't mind giving him our email address would we?? Hmmmmmmm? Nice guy but things turned even stranger when he started talking about his religious beliefs....I think he was trying to convert us. We made a hasty retreat to our resort but not before he managed to sneak us into the crocodile enclosure....that's right on this island is a crocodile & performing monkey show - cancelled due to non attendance. In actual fact there were only 10 or so sad crocodiles lying in a concrete pit being looked over by a 16 year old with a cigarette hanging off his lip.

The dolphin show was another thing altogether. A 3,000 seat auditorium (think Seaworld on the Gold Coast) & there were 21 of us in the audience. The whole thing was in Vietnamese so we had no idea what was going but non the less the show started & out came sea lions, seals & dolphins for a choreographed routine to music (Shakira & the like). It went for about half an hour then sadly it was over & we spoke of it again....strange. We are bewildered as to how they manage to stay open. The resort was massive, so massive in fact we had to be driven to our room on a golf cart. P.S We didn't help the cause by blowing up the TV either!


So it was back to Hanoi for a couple of days before we hit China. We managed to fit in some last minute sites; the Temple of Literature, breakfast at KOTO (tick that off the list Bec) & Hoa Low Prison. The ride on the cyclo from KOTO to the prison was a fun way to finish off our adventures in Vietnam. Sadly Andrew had a brain fart when paying the driver & paid him 400,000 Dong ($20) instead of 40,000 ($2).....the driver snatched his money & disappeared into the traffic before Andrew even had time to draw breath, but not before flashing us the biggest smile I've ever seen. Cheeky bastard!!

Now we are off to China. If it wasn't for getting sick in Hanoi I would leave with only fond memories of Vietnam. The people are amazing, the landscape breathtaking & the food....I have no words. China here we come!

Shop 'til you drop in Hoi An

We arrived in Hoi An at 5.30am....a bit too early for the hotel as it turns out so we went for an early morning walk around town while we waited for the rooms to be ready. Couldn't tell you what we saw, I think I was still asleep! I can sum up what Hoi An means to me in one word - SHOPPING! I had the most amazing winter coats made.....wool, silk lining, made to measure, all done overnight & all for $35US. Add to that the dress, jumpsuit, skirt, pants & shorts & I spent less than $200 - including the postage to send the stuff home that I don't wanna lug around for the next 11 months!

Oh, I nearly forgot....we also discovered the most amazing chocolate mousse cake I've had in my life...Tam Tam Cafe, you rock my world!

Photo: Mmmmmmmmmmmousse Cake

While we were in Hoi An, we also got to see some of the Liberation Day celebrations. The Thu Bon River runs through the middle of Hoi An & it was the main location for the celebrations. Floating all along the river they had giant lanterns & dragons, lit up from the inside. Everywhere there were children playing traditional games & there was a really festive vibe in the air.

Next morning, despite a very civilised departure time of 10am, I nearly managed to miss the bus cos I was having my last outfit finished...oops! A 4 hour bus ride along the same route taken by the boys from Top Gear, took us to Hue. Stunning scenery but a little windy for those of us who might occasionally suffer from motion sickness!

Photo: As seen on Top Gear Vietnam Special

Hue was the scene of one of the most fun things we have done so far. A local cooking class at a restaurant down the road from the hotel called Missy Roo's. Turns out it's owned by an Aussie woman & the manager (who runs the classes) confessed his love for her...even though she shacked up with his best mate!! Anyway, the class started off with a trip to the local market. It was a real highlight being able to mingle & shop with the locals & to be buying the ingredients we would later be cooking with.

Photo: Anyone for duck?

We cooked fresh spring rolls, fried spring rolls, seafood pancakes, beef noodle soup & peanut sauce.....it was all freakin delicious!! As our teacher said "You eat your own product"....we had so much food that we had to get some of it packed up to take away! We can't wait to get home & test out our new Vietnamese cooking skills.

When we finished stuffing our faces, we dragged ourselves about 4kms out of town to the Thien Mu Pagoda situated on the banks of the Perfume River. It is a really picturesque spot with a giant Pagoda & many other small statues scattered around the grounds. The weirdest part was seen through the back fence - a massive, overgrown cemetary with cows grazing in it!

Photo: You'd think we'd be all Pagoda'd out by now!

Photo: Mooooooo!

Our visit to Hue ended on a slightly sour note. Our tour leader misread our train tickets & we ended up missing the overnight train Hanoi. This left a night bus as our only option....only we didn't catch an ordinary bus.....no, we caught a coach with no reclining seats, no toilet on board & no toilet breaks......for 14 hours!!! What a nightmare...but we managed to make it to Hanoi in one piece & that's where it starts to get really interesting!

Hello Ho Chi Minh

Photo: Crazy traffic outside the night market in Saigon

Forgive me for my tardiness....I know it's been a month since the last entry but it's been a hell of a month!

So we arrived in Ho Chi Minh after successfully crossing the Cambodian border. First impressions are......aaaahhhhhhhh TRAFFIC!! Went for an orientation walk before dinner. After dinner we tackled the night market Ben Thanh Market. On the way to the market we encountered "lovers lane".....a giant park where all the local "lovers" go to sit on their motorbikes & whisper sweet nothings into each others ears! So freakin weird...there where hundreds of them! So the market was massive, hot, packed & extremely overwhelming...we didn't last long! 

Photo: War Remnants Museum - Ho Chi Minh City

Started the day with a 5am wake up call......hundreds of locals in the park outside the hotel doing their morning exercise to The Backstreet Boys!! Today's first stop - The War Remnants Museum - a rather one sided look at the Vietnam War. Lots of graphic pictures up saying things like "The Americans did this". Included in the display were tanks full of deformed babies & hundreds of photos of dead bodies. One interesting display was dedicated to showing the effects of Agent Orange & other chemicals used by the US Army...again, very confronting. Even though it was 40 degrees, we walked back to the other side of town & braved the indoor, day market. Not much of an improvement on the night market...maybe a bit hotter! The only thing left to do was find a pub & have some cold beverages :)

Today we left for the Mekong Delta where we would be spending a night with a local family in a home stay. We were met by Mr Nam, our local guide who quickly became the highlight of the tour so far! We arrived at the port where we alighted our boat for the trip onto the Delta. Along the way we stopped at a few local businesses. We saw how they make popped rice (kinda like rice bubbles), bricks (fascinating) & a fruit farm where they were very keen for us all to try Durian - a fruit that can only be described as smelling like mouldy socks! At every stop we were given jasmine tea & shots of home made rice whisky - 90 proof rocket fuel!! Basically the day was all about getting us pissed!

 

Photo: Inside one of the brick kilns

 

Photo: Presentation is everything!

Lunch was amazing.....they carved little men out of cucumber to adorn the dishes of food, so cute! After lunch we went to leave the little canal in the boat but we had been blocked in by reeds as the tide came in. We turned around to try another way out with no success so we had to try & fit the boat under a bridge.....the only solution, everyone to the front of the boat to way it down....we just squeezed through with the boys pushing down on the underside of the bridge...then it was everyone to the back of the boat to repeat the process....very funny!

Photo: Everyone to the front of the boat

Next stop was a dancing display in an old, French colonial house on the water. We were all getting really into the dancing....and more whisky of course. Sadly it turns out that the family performing were in fact actors they ship in for the benefit of the tourists, not the custodians of the house as we all thought!! Next up a canoe ride took us to our homestay. VERY basic accomodation....just a stretcher bed with a blanket & a mozzie net hanging above. However, the hospitality shown by the patriach of the family was outstanding & the food was even better. Andrew got a hit of energy & went for a bike ride around the little village but the rest of us lay around in hammocks & snoozed! The evening was spent playing card games & teaching Nam (our guide) how to play "Chase the Ace".....he spent most of the night shouting "loser" at anyone he beat!! I think we created a monster :)

Photo: Our gracious host for the homestay

Next morning, back onto the boat for a trip to the floating market, where all the locals trade their wares & then back to Ho Chi Minh.

From the homestay we went straight to the Cu Chi Tunnels, about an hour outside of Ho Chi Minh. We were in a little mini van & about 20 minutes from the tunnels something came over our driver & he turned into a lunatic. He was driving at break neck speeds, down the middle of the road...on several occasions missing pedestrians & bike riders by millimetres.....our tour leader attempted to calm him down but it only served to make things worse! He took his seat belt off & turned into a rally driver.....so scary! We managed, somehow, to arrive in one piece & a phonecall to his boss ensured a safe return journey.

The tunnels were amazing. Evidence of the Vietnamese inginuity & determination.....some 200kms of multi level tunnels used by the locals to live safely during the Vietnam war. Andrew & I both had a go at fitting down an original tunnel entry....a very tight squeeze!

Photo: Breathe in!

They have opened up a handfull of the underground rooms for tourists & they have also widened a stretch of the tunnel (to double the size) so you can have a go crawling down it....you are still on your hands & knees though. Not a good idea if you're claustrophobic. At the end of the tour Andrew had the opportunity to shoot an AK47....or as he put it "shot the shit out of the rabbit". I think he enjoyed it a little too much for my liking!

Photo: Someone looks a little too pleased with himself :)

Back to the hotel to pick up the bags & time to board our first overnight train to Nha Trang...a beachside resort town up the coast. Not much to report about Nha Trang. Not great beaches but we did go to the mud baths which was heaps of fun!

Photo: Relaxing in the mud bath

After lying in the mudbath for about 45mins it was time to bake our mud coating in the sun....then off to the walk through showers & 4 different swimming pools. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon. After 3 days in Nha Trang we boarded an overnight "sleeper" bus for Hoi An. Sleeper Bus is a loose term as I don't think many of us slept! The bus had two levels of reclining seats where you lay almost flat with your feet in the pod under the person in front of you.....you are basically trapped on your back, unable to move your legs for 11 hours.

Photo: The view of Andrew's feet in the "sleeper" bus