VIETNAM - Hue

Hue is the ancient capital of Vietnam and thus has much of architectural merit and wonder, unforntunately the weather was rubbish while we were there and we saw a lot of it through light showers.

We hired a dragon boat down the river which is reported to be quite stunning, in order to go and see a famous emporers tomb, Tu Duc and a famous pagoda. Again the weather was not good and the river was far from stunning. Getting to the tomb was an intersting trip. We got off the boat in the middle of nowhere where we were met by a guy and his moped, soon 2 more arrived and we got moped taxis to Tu Duc. The tombs were also a place of residence for the emporer and his court. The surrounding grounds were extensive and contained the tombs themselves. It was a very mossy wet area and i'm sure the highlight for Karl and Clem was me slipping over quite spectacularly going down some steps. I managed to escape with a couple of bruised knuckles bruised ass and ego! hahaha.

Next stop was the Tien Mu Pagoda. Not till arriving and seeing for myself did i realise that it was the home of the subject of one of the most famous photos in history. Thich Quang Du'c was a Vietnamese Monk who burned himself to death by the road in Saigon in protest to the persecution of Buddhists. The car which he used to get to Saigon was returned to the Pagoda and remains there as part of a memorial to the monk.

Later we walked around some of the Citadel, the original walled city. Within is another Citadel which was home to the Emporer. Unfortunately much of the original palace no longer exists, but the grandeur must have been fantastic baring in mind the size of the site.

Next day we went on a tour of the DMZ. For those unfamiliar with TLA's (Three Letter Accronyms) it means demilitarised zone. The tour took in many of the most important sites in the centre of the country, at the heart of the Vietnam War. We visted some fo the tunnels used during the conflict between the North and South as well as seeing the Rockpile, a strategic U.S viewpoint and a famous US Airstrip which i cant remember the name of at the moment, near the Laos border.

The tunnels were a real eye opener showing amazing Vietnamese resiliance. We ere were shown around by a lady who spoke perfect English, French, Chinese amongst other languages, additionally was a very short man, who grew up in the tunnels. the lack of light and nutrients had a serious effect on his growth and he stood no higher than a small child mayb of the age of 8. He was amazing at finding his way through the nearly pitch black tunnels however, running through areas we had to stoop through. He also could not speak, since birth, but understood Vietnamese, Thai, English and French, an incredible man. After the long day we returned to the guest house and prepared ouselves for the journey the next day to Hoi an.

VIETNAM - Hanoi

The journey the three of us had been dreading, overland from Hong Kong to Hanoi, was over in 16 hours! far less than the 2.5 days which we had been advised it would take on various websites. It was so easy, we got off the excellent sleeper bus in Nanning and were immediately thrown onto another bus which would take us to the border at Friendship Pass. On arrival we boarded golf buggies which took us to passport control, then more buggies then onto another bus and we were travelling through Vietnam.

Hanoi arrived very quickly and we were immediately bombarded with offers of taxis or rooms for the night. Our guest house was situated in the centre of the old quarter which is an absolutely crazy place. Crossing the road was one of the first obstacles, we would later use this as a measure to see how long people had been in Vietnam, if they were struggling, they had just arrived! The trick is, to cross looking at all the moped drivers and never stopping, let them go around you, quite scary at first but not too bad.

Hanoi is a nice city, the old quarter is always busy and there is always somewhere to get a cheap beer, mostly on plastic chairs on street corners, 15 pence was the record!

While in the city we tried to pay a visit to Ho Chi Minh but unfortunately he was closed for the afternoon. We did however make it into his museum and it was a very odd place with examples of all that influenced his life including art and sculpture. Ho Chi Minh famously fought on the front line, for the North Vietnamese, against the South Vietnam/US forces during the war. He wanted Vietnam to be united under a communist government. Throughout our trip through Vietnam we would learn more about this period of history and the subsequent consequences.

We decided to take a day trip to Halong Bay on the coast near Hanoi. It is a beautiful bay full of stunning karst mountains. They are similar in form to those we saw in Yangshao but surrounded by water. We boarded a boat for the day to sail into the middle of the islands. While sailing around them we had the chance to get off and investigate some caves, go Kayaking at to check out the stunning views which the area has so plentifully.

While in Hanoi we made the decision to buy each other Christmas presents to give each other at Whale Island for Christmas. I was buying for Karl, Karl for Clem and clem for Me, how exciting!

HONG KONG

After the border formalities at Shenzen and swapping from the train to the metro we got into Kowloon. We stayed in a hotel very near Nathan Street and had a wonder around. That evening we had a fancy dress party, theme Christmas, in one of the hotel rooms and all had a final goodbye meal.

Next day we went our seperate ways agreeing to meet up for dinner again that evening.
We are lucky enough to have Weiren Lee as a contact in Hong Kong, where he has recently started a new job. After dropping our stuff off at Lee's bijou Kowloon residence where he very kindly let us stay for a couple of nights he took Karl and I around the area to do a little shopping with local knowledge while Clem and the Aussie girls went clothes shopping. Lee tooks us to an excellent Dip sum restaurant where we had all manner of wierd and wonderful foodages. That evening everyone met up for what can only be described as the biggest rip off of a meal i have ever had. After we parted company with everyone again, this time with most for the final time.

Next day Karl and I went up the long escalator on Hong Kong Island after walking around what must be described as a gangles of Filipino women inhabiting the public space inbetween the Star Ferry and The Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank (early Norman Foster). After we met upwiththe Aussies and Clem once more and headed for Stanley Market. the bus journey there was absolutely gorgeous and i could help feeling jealous of all the ex-pats living it up on the south of Hong Kong Island.

Stanley Market however seems to be a real tourist attraction and not real what i was hoping for or expecting. The bus jounrey made it worth while tho. Karl and i headed back in order to get on the peak tram to see the sunset over Hong Kong. It was not dissappointing, the lights were truly awesome.

We headed back to Kowloon where we bumped into Eric and Catherine, who for those keen followers of the blog may remember were with us in Mongolia and some of Beijing. 2 minutes after talking to them 2 of there friends walked past and we all headed to dinner together. It seems that even in a city as large and as dense as Hong kong the world is very small!

Next day we boarded the sleeper bus to Nanning where we would e able to get on a bus to Hanoi and Vietnam!

CHINA - Yangshao

Yangshao is in the south of China and is set against a backdrop of beautiful karst hills. The Li River passes nearby meandering through and around the Mountains and caves which at some point the water helped to create. We were particularly in that our trip leader was from Yangshao and could therefore give us an excellent incite to the place as well as feeding us in her excellent cafe in the centre, Lucy's Place. Yangshao is completely geered up to tourists, infact so much so that almost every shop must be either a tourist shop, bar or restaurant.

While in Yangshao there was much i wanted to see, unfortunately we could not fit everything in but i know that it is a place that i would like to return to. One day the whole group went on a bike ride around the area taking in the excellent weather, halfway we climbed Moon Mountain and had some food which some of the group had prepared during a cooking lesson, luckily i had not died of food poisoning and was able to cycle back.

We also took a boat trip down the Li River in order to watch the sunset, it was beautifully quiet and still. Most evenings we ate in Lucy's place and one night i was able to help in the kitchen for a short time where i think Karl and i prevented Lucy from chopping off her fingers off. Another evening we made dumplings which made for a tasty supper. Still with lots to see we had to leave the next day, never mind, will have to see the rest next time.

Onward to Hong Kong!

CHINA - Chongqing, The Yangzi River and the Three Gorges Dam

Chongqing is one of China's provincial level municipalities. The area is home to over 31 million people. It is an area which relies entirely on the River and what the land around it can offer. The city of Chongqing is a lively place, giving me the impression that it is like a small version of what i thought Hong Kong would be like. We only had a night there so we had to use our time wisely. Karl and I and one of our group Ivor ate some food from a stall down an alley, the owner did not speak a word of English so we wondered around his outdoor street kitchen pointing to stuff we fancied eating, the result was excellent. The Chinese eating there seemed to find the whole thing very amusing, as did we, especially when we were brought out about 5 dishes all coming to a total of less than 2 pounds each including a large beer. We then proceeded to a spot our guide picked out, a Karaoke bar, it was more like a club with performers of all kind on stage at differet times, dancers actors and a very strange comedian, unfortunately many of the jokes were lost on us as our Chinese is a little rusty.

The next day we redied ourselves for the journey ahead, the controvertial of late, Yangzi River through the Three Gorges to the Dam. We boarded our boat and were staying very close to the front. We spent the first evening seeing how many of us we could fit in mine and Karls room, at one point i think there were all 13 of our group. We spent the evening having a few drinks. Some of us woke early the next day in order to see boat pass through the first of the gorges Qutang Gorge. It traveresed the once narrow gorge just as the sun was rising. After an interesting breakfast on board we continued with life on the boat, reading a little and taking in the vistas. During the day we also took an extra trip down one of the lesser gorges where we saw muchsteeper cliff faces with extraordinary things like hanging coffins. These are coffins which have been lowered form the top of a cliff into position in a very small cave, so small that they are sometimes visible. Later we changed onto an even smaller boat a Sampan and, escorted by a crazy singing local man we travelled further. So we then got off the Sampan, got ont he Lesser Gorges tour boat, got off the Lesser Gorges tour boat and got on our main boat and we could set off again down the Yangzi. We entered the second of the Gorges Wu Gorge, it was much larger in scale both in length and height. After dinner that evening i learnt, from our local guide George, how to play Chinese Chess. My uncle John did once teach me but i had completely forgotten the rules. Next morning we were up early once more to see the start of the final gorge Xiling Gorge by far the longest. I have never seen a more obvious place showing the worlds crust thrusting from beneath us particularly on one corner where a mountain literally looks like it is slipping into the water.Later that day we arrived at The Three Gorges Dam. For those who do not know much about this notorious project let me inform you a little. It is the largest dam in the world at over 2000 m in length. It turns part of the Yangzi River, 660km, into a resevoir and the energy produced by allowing this water to pass through generators in the dam will be enough to supply half of China's electricity. This is a really bold step in combating climate change, which also allows the river to be easier to navigate and future flooding can be controlled however the negative implications are huge. By doing this the Chinese government had to relocate almost 2 million people, some of these people had no choice in where they would go. The water level will have risen 175m when finished which means there is not only an aesthetic different but also a long term ecological one. The dam is not due to be completed until 2011 which mean we were not allowed to see as much of it as we had hoped. Whether the project was necessary or not is a very interesting argument which i can see both sides of, however the fact remains that the project is incredible in many ways.

After we went, by bus, to Yichang where we stayed the night before heading to Guilin by train and then on to Yangshao.

CHINA - Mt Emei

From Chengdu we headed east towards one of the 5 sacred Chinese Buddhist Mountains Mt Emei. On the way we stopped in Le Shan to see one fo the biggest buddhas in the world, it was built at the confluence of three rivers where many fishermen had previously perished, it was constructed to safeguard the people using the water and since then it has done the job, with a little help of some river management.

At the monestary we would stay one night and then take a 3 hour trek, avoiding very naughty monkeys to the top of another area of the mountain where we would stay in another monestary.

The bathroom facilities can only be described as basic, but the toilets had a fantastic view over the dense treed canoply. After we had recovered from the climb and spent the evening the having a meal at what must be one of the most off the beaten track cafes, halfway up a flight of 1200 steps, The Hard Wok Cafe..

We headed back down the following day and spent another night in the first monestary.

We also visited the top of the mountain, over 3000 meters up, the views are supposed to be extraordinary however the cloud had other ideas and we only saw a lot of cloud.
The spectacular Buddhist buildings at the top, and another encouner with very tame monkeys made the trip worth while. In the distance above the cloud we also saw one of China's highest mountains at around 7800 meters.

The next day we would head to Chongqing for an unexpected overnight stop before boarding a boat down the Yangzi.