VIETNAM -Dalat

Dalat is very different from our other stop offs in Vietnam. It is first of all not on the coast, but infact in the mountains. Secondly it is one of the most obviously colonial places in Vietnam. During the Vietnam War high ranking officals from both sides as well as some French lived there in what became a basic safe zone, an area which neither army was allowed to invade. A very bizarre situation.

It was in Dalat where we did one of the best things on our trip so far, we took a tour with Mr Han and 2 friends from the Easy Riders. The Easy Riders are a group of motorbikers who take tourists around the more scenic and real side of Vietnam. Each of us had a driver for the day and we all enjoyed visiting a chinese temple, coffee plantations, silk factories, an amazing waterfall and finally the Crazy House by a mad Russian Architect, all along very windy mountain roads, an experience not to be missed!

While in Dalat we were lucky enough to be watching the final of the South East Asian Football Cup, or whatever it is called, in which Vietnam were in the final for the first time in 10 years. They ended up beating Thailand in the final. Dalat errupted with people shouting and beeping their moped horms as they toured the streets national flags in hand! Brilliant!

VIETNAM - Nha Trang

Nhtrang is a party town on the east coast just over halfway down. It was raining while we were there and the sea was brown thanks to the storms. Nhtrang was probably one of our least favourite places as it has been purely angled towards tourists looking to go out and not remember what happend the night before the day after, hence there is very little of real interest. we stayed there only as a stop off to catch a bus the next day to Dalat.

VIETNAM - Whale Island

Whale Island is a paridisical, French run resort island, off the east coast of Vietnam around 2 hours north of Nha Trang. We had made special arrangements for our overnight bus from Hoi an to drop us somewhere nearby. We had no idea when they would drop us off as they did not speak english, we also did not know if they understood where we wanted them to drop us off. Anyways, in the early hours fo the morning after a very rough journey we got dropped off on a dark corner of the road and got pointed in a direction. We crossed the road to find a bus from the resort waiting for us, amazing! they drove us quickly through the night down a tarmac road which was being swallowed up by the sand dunes. eventually we arrived at the waters edge and walked along a very rickety wooden pier and boarded a boat. After abour 30 minutes the boat pulled into a harbour with a sandy beach. We had arrived at our Chistmas destination, and sure enough it was raining.

The island was very beautiful, the food was excellent, the people were very friendly and our beach hut was very nice the only thing to slightly let it down was the weather. It rained almost all the time we were there apart from half of the last day.
My first Christmas away from home was a wierd experience, warm but wet we had our main Christmas meal on Christmas Eve in the tradition of the French(apparently). We had an excellent 4 course meal including a yuel log. For two nights including that one we shared our meal with a very nice couple from France and Germany. The wine flowed.

We left on the 27th and headed for Nha Trang.

VIETNAM - Hoi an

Hoi an is a little further south, down the coast of Vietnam, it is famous as being the place to go if you want any custom made clothing. It would have been great to get a suit or two made in 24 hours, however i am on a budget and i restrained. Clem however made the most of it and got lots made. lol. Apart from Tailors Hoi an does not have much else, almost every shop is trying to sell you clothes. While Clem was making her mind up about the colour of shorts to get in one place, a very persistant lady was trying to sell Karl linen trousers. We tried to good cop bad cop discount routine but it failed on this occasion, however, the lady did comment on what a nice guy i was and offered me her daughter, also in the room and also a Tailor, she looked a little embarressed. lol.While in Hoi an we bumped into, quite randomly, Kathryn and Jakob from our China tour, for the 2nd time in Vietnam. It is absolutely amazing what a small world we live in and how many people you bump into again and again!

On the final day there, the heavens opened again, and the rain came down hard. So much so that the river came over the banks on the water front and flooded the road infront of all the bars.

Next day we left to go to a place called Whale Island for Christmas.

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!