I heart Vietnam

My time so far in Vietnam has been exceptional, and the more I see of it the more I love it here. The rest of my time in Hanoi was fantastic, and I would have liked to have stayed in the city for longer. I managed to get a free trip to Snake Village to make up the numbers on a group's last night in Vietnam. Snake Village isn't a village, but a restaurant that serves...well, snake. The "appeal" is that you kill the snake yourself, and for the extra crazy people: eat the beating heart. Yuk. I didn't kill a snake, nor did I eat one's heart. I did however watch the experience through my camera to distance myself from the scene a bit. We then sat down around a table on the floor and prepared for our snake feast. Declaring myself a vegetarian after my chicken/rat fiasco in India, I was sure I wouldn't take part...but a few rice wines later and I was chowin down on a snake spring roll. Good experience, but I don't think I'll be ordering it on the menu. The good news is that the rest of the food in Hanoi is delicious and I was never hard pressed to find a yummy place to eat. During my wanderings around I really enjoyed pulling up a stool with the lunch-break gals and joining in on the Pho or Mien, which is basically noodle soup. I have become a noodle soup addict. I have also surprised myself by adding spicy sauces and tobasco to pretty much everything. Its like I've discovered a whole new world of food...SPICE! The art in Hanoi is breathtaking, and I managed to find loads and loads of galleries. I couldn't help but buy a painting and sent it to myself in Tring...now I just need a house to put it in! Wandering through all the little streets in the Old Quarter and beyond has a very unique Parisien feel to it, and makes it incredibly pretty. Lots of nooks and crannies full of cafes and restaurants in old buildings, fantastic.  My last night in Hanoi Luke, Kelly and I went to the Water Puppet show around the corner on the lake. It was most definately an interesting experience. The live music was fantastic, and it was great to see the musicians in traditional Vietnamese dress. The puppet show was pretty trippy, but great to see. On my last morning I woke up early and when I got outside the whole city smelled of cinnamon and spices which was incredible. The weather in Hanoi wasn't great, but I think it added to the appeal...somehow.
One of the things I really like about Hanoi is how nice the people are. The girl who sold me the painting was quick to get me on facebook, and I got lots of email addresses off a group of girls I met in a club. People love to wave, smile, and say hello which is really refreshing and welcoming. And then ofcourse there was the heroin man, and it seems a lot of people are willing to share a smoke with you on the street. Don't worry Mum, I said no every time. I'm super bummed I didn't have time to get to Halong Bay or Dalat, but will definately be returning to this country, so can just do it next time!

My next destination was Hue. I met some great people on the 12 hour sleeper bus journey, along with a couple I had met previously in Laos! The people that work on the bus are less than gentle, and give you a good ol' whack when its time to wake up or if they want you to move for one reason or another. Luckily, I met Helen who is brilliant! and turned out we had booked the same hostel so made our way there and then off for some exploring. Hue is quite a small town, but with lots to see. We made it around the citadel and had some fantastic food. We checked out the market which was just toally crazy, and had everything and anything you could ever need or want. We stayed in Hue for a day, and then it was off to Hoi An!

Hoi An is by far my favourite place I've been to so far. We got off the sleeper bus around 6am, dumped our stuff off at our hotel, and then rented some bikes to make our way to the beach. Hoi An is super chilled out and very very pretty. Its known for tailoring, and its not hard to find someone eager to make you a suit or a ball gown to take home! We met a group of guys traveling together at our hotel, and went exploring with them in the pm. The town centre is just incredible at night. Its lit mostly by small colorful lanterns with big BIG lights floating in the river. The river is lined with restaurants and galleries, and it was just very pleasent to walk around. I bumped into loads of people I had met along the way from Laos and Hanoi which was fun. Helen and I managed to beat the locals at a game of snooker that night at a local beach party...don't think they were too pleased, but we were very proud! The next evening we all made our way to Nha Trang and arrived in the early hours once again. Seeing as we couldn't check in until 12, we had no choice but to lie on the beach until lunch time. Helen and I rented some bikes again and took ourselves 5k out of the city to the mud baths. I've come to realise that biking is such a great way to see a city! The mud baths were pretty cool, but I enjoyed getting there and back even better. On the way back to our hotel we stopped for some lunch/dinner at a local restaurant in the back streets after getting a wee bit lost. The local eateries don't have menus, but just give you what they're serving that day. So we sat with the locals, enjoyed our dog noodle soup, and then made our way back to the hotel. Being a temporary veggie saved me once again, and I didn't actually eat any of the dog...and neither did Helen after she found out what it was. I went out on the crazy Nha Trang town and had lots of fun with a bunch of other backpackers. You really are never alone here if you don't want to be, there are so many people and lots of familiar faces! I bumped into the crazy Canadian girls from my bus from Laos to Hanoi, and my friend Page who I met in Veng Vieng so it was all good!
I arrived in Mui Ne this afternoon, but am eager to make my way to Saigon tomorrow morning. Not a lot here other than kite surfing and beach resorts. Uploading photos is almost impossible to do in Vietnam, but I will keep trying! Can't wait to get to Saigon tomorrow as I have only heard good things!

Lunch time view

Hanoi

bucket o' eels

VIETNAMESE MIN PIN!

Lake in the Old Quarter, Hanoi

Having some Pho with the gals

Big Phil and Ash workin on a snake...yuk!

Boat ride in Hue

Goldfish?

American tanks from the war

These things are HEAVY!

Bottoms up! Market in Hue

The greenest green I've ever seen!

before and after...Saigon

The traffic in Saigon is CRAZY!

GOOD MORNING VIETNAM!

Lantern shop in Hoi An

Didn't get to try these, but hope to soon!

where's the toilet? Its the hole in the corner.

Water Puppet theatre

Beach friend in Hoi An

Can't see me because I'm so tanned

I arrived safely in Vietnam last night after a 27 hour bus journey. I traveled with some crazy Canadian girls and some guys I met in Luang Probang. The journey was fine, except the man behind me decided to punch my chair erect every time I wanted to recline to sleep...nevermind. The drive into Hanoi was very interesting; going from fantasticaly green mountains to impoverished towns that looked like they had just gone through the war a couple of months ago. People are still using the old style military helmets as crash helmets. It was amazing seeing the women working in the rice fields wearing the pointy hats! I couldn't take pictures from the bus, but hopefully on my way out. I got to my hostel safely and was pleasently surprised to find myself in a backpacker's paradise! The building is a purpose-built backpackers with everything you could want! Bar, check. Clean and busy rooms, check. Nice showers and toilets that get cleaned every couple of hours check check check!!! Luke (my bed neighbor) is super nice and we've already had some stellar chats. I went to the night market last night with Chris and Big Phil to get some food which was DELISH!
This morning I got myself up early and had some lovely fluffy pancakes to set myself up for a day of exploring...Hanoi is CRAZY!! I first found myself in the market area with all sorts of crazy things to eat some of which included toads, live eels, and turtles :( Animal welfare most certainly is not a concern here. I found myself at the lake out of the old quarter and had a lovely walk around it. I got to one side and there was loads of commotion, people had even pulled over from the road and were taking pictures of the water.  I went to go see what was going on, and saw something in the lake. It was a MASSIVE turtle who has been living in the lake for ages, and I'm guessing is Hanoi's Nessie. Feel pretty lucky I saw it. The traffic here is intense, most people drive motorbikes, and there isn't much of a road system. You just have to either look down or at your destination and cross the road, knowing/hoping that the drivers will go around you. A nice man offered me a go on his heroin pipe in the street, I declined. I soon found myself in the artist district and took myself into almost every gallery. There is so much amazing art to see and I'd love to take it all home! Hanoi as a city is great to roam around, and am looking forward to exploring more of Vietnam!

Sabaidee!

Beautiful view of Veng Vieng from our hotel

Beautiful view from the river!

Hello! We got back from Vang Vieng yesterday, and spent another night in Luang Prabang to get our Visas for Vietnam. Vang Vieng is a beautiful but insane place. Tubing is the local activity dominated by tourists/drunken partiers. It was a lot of fun, but I could only handle two days of it! You simply rent a tube, drift down the river and wait for someone to throw you a rope with a bottle on the end of it to pull you into their bar. Excellent. I met loads of fun people and had a super time. The drive to and from Vang Vieng is amazing. The scenery is gorgeous and it was great to drive through the villages and see how the locals live. People mostly live in little huts, some on stilts by the road side. LOADS of animals running around and lots of baby animals. Pigs just walk around like dogs (not masquerading as labradors, but roaming freely) with piglets not far behind. We were going a "little" too fast to take pictures, but I have the memories! Off to Vietnam tonight and REALLY looking forward to it!

Heading to Laos!

Sian and I are currently in Luang Prabang Laos, and its lovely. 

slow boats are indeed slow

one of the many many temples

very rickety bamboo bridge!

never touch a monk if you're a woman...they really don't like it

We got a minivan/bus around 8:30 pm on Wednesday to head for the border of Thailand and Laos. Sian and I were first on the van so headed straight for the back where we thought we'd have the most room. As the van started to fill up, we realized we were going to be joined by the whole van's luggage, making it a very cozy ride indeed. The 7 hour journey sure was a bumpy one, but we made sure the driver wasn't at all sleepy before heading off. It was so bumpy, in fact, that Sian and I managed to be lifted off of our seats on many occasions which made sleeping quite difficult (probably didn't help that we were sat over the rear wheels.) This was not the sleeper bus we had hoped for after a week of not sleeping due to neighboring clubs and roosters, but we were looking forward to our 4 hours of sleep at our destination. We got to Chiang Khong at 3am, and slept like logs until 7am when it was time for breakfast. After a delish breakie on the water, we boarded a boat and headed for the border crossing...it was MANIC! There were about 200 hundred people smooshed into a small space filling out forms and no idea what was going on, frantically trying to pass passports through the office window. After the initial mayhem, it was time for an early morning beer until we had to collect our passports which was an even crazier system. The man at his desk would hold a passport up to the window at waist-height, so anyone behind the first row of people had no idea who's passport was ready. Luckily there was a lovely loud American man at the front yelling everyone's name out so we could squeeze past the B.O and swearing to get our passports. Fine. After some more confusion and waiting around (and a lovely tuna sangwhich) we boarded our beloved slow boat. In the mean time, we had met two lovely Dutch girls who we're now traveling with, Saskia and Christine. So we picked some good seats and buckled down, ready for our 8 hour journey to the next town where we would sleep for the night...or so we thought. Our slow boat was in fact very slow, and we didn't make it to our destination. It got too dark, and the boat driver couldn't see anything, so it was probably a good thing we pulled up to a beach for the night. Our boat had people on it ranging in ages from 1 year old to 70+, but most people stayed calm and enjoyed the adventure. Some of us went on the beach and made a bon-fire (and some of us just sat in front of the bonfire and were grateful that others made it). It was FREEZING at night, but Sian and I snuggled up under our sleeping bags. The Mekong is beautiful, and we were surrounded by greenery and sandy beaches along the way. In the morning we headed for Luang Prabang again in hopes that we would make it this time...and we did! Its really pretty here, and very chilled out. Yesterday we spent the day exploring the village and had dinner in a tree house. Today we headed for the water falls which was amazing. The four of us are off to Vang Vieng tomorrow morning which will be lots of fun! Hope you all had a terrific weekend!!

Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai is AMAZEBALLS!!!!!!!
Sian and I had a bit of an adventure getting onto our pre-booked overnight bus to Chiang Mai (ofcourse). Turns out they overbooked the bus, so they were going to put us on a VIP bus and give us free food etc. So no probs. We get to this bus, and nothing about it is VIP, and the beds are simply reclining coach seats...nevermind. We figured we'd just snuggle up and be out like a light due to our previous night's lack of sleep. Well, we were...but unfortunately so was our bus driver and we got in a bit of an accident three hours into our journey. We're fine, everyone is fine, the bus is not fine...and neither is a pickup truck that we crashed into...or the centre divide. Sian and I really kept the crowd calm with our swearing and screaming. I had my eye mask on and ear plugs in, so had no idea what was goin on. When we realised everyone was ok, we calmed down and turned a bad thing into a good situation by sparking a conversation up with the two guys sitting infront of us. Dan and Dave are from San Francisco! and we're hanging out with them here in Chiang Mai. We got off the bus and followed the boys to their hostel to book in before exploring the city. Its so nice to be somewhere really calm where no one is honking a horn or trying to sell you something. We went to a market in the town centre and Sian had a great game for us: we split up for five minutes and buy the craziest looking food item for everyone to try (there's a lot of stuff I've never seen before so this was going to be fun...along with the fact that a lot of the locals don't speak English). The food we chose was...interesting. Last night we chilled out and went for some AMAZING thai food which was kind of hard to find. I popped into a bar to use the toilet and Sian and I found ourselves in a strip bar which was a bit unfortunate. When I saw a sign that said "girls" I assumed it was the WC, but no it was the changing room for the strippers. Oops.

fun time market!

was tempted...but no

delish!

sexy

the running jump didn't quite hack it!

Today was the most amazing day I've had so far. Sian and I booked in an elephant treck for the whole day and headed off early this morning. We learned all the commands, and then practised how to get on and off the elephants...I was PETRIFIED! There wasn't a harness or anything, and nothing to hold on to except their ears and skin...sounds bad but they're so thick they can't really feel it. I was actually shaking with fear which I didn't think I would be. After lunch Sian and I boarded our elephant for the day and headed out for a walk. At first we were petrified and had to calm our nerves by singing some Britney, but after a while we were fine! We walked along a river through the jungle and gave her a bath, then walked around some more and into a mud bath where we ended up having a mud fight with the guides. We were sitting on the elephant and couldn't believe we were doing it, and how much we loved it. The scenary was AMAZING, very green and lots of hills...kind of what I had pictured Thailand to be like. I'm so glad we did it! If not for the experience, then atleast for the cute outfits.

Bangkok

 amazing pink taxis

 I really hope I don't need Dental Time

 floating market

 feeding a baby elephant

 the bridge over river kwai

 siany feeding the baby elephant

 a bridge leading to a nunnery in the mountains

 the death rail

 

 floating market

terrified

feeling like Britney

too much

Bangkok has been quite an experience! Where we're staying is just insane (Khao San Road) and unfortunately our first two nights were in a hostel right next to a club that played music until 5am and it actually shook our room. Needless to say we're pretty tired from a couple restless nights! We spent the first day wondering around the city which was great, and there's just SO much to see! All the cabs are bright pink, so that made me happy. Although we haven't needed to take any because its so easy to wonder around. Yesterday we went to the River Kwai which was lovely and it was nice to get out of the city. We were on a tour bus with a group of people and headed straight for the bridge after visiting the Kanchanaburi War Cemetery which was quite moving . We had some time to walk over the bridge and check out the museum. Next stop was an Elephant safari and then lunch. The food here is amazing, and still spicy! After lunch we went to see a waterfall which seemed like a place a lot of locals bring their families for a picnic. It was very relaxing! After that we boarded the train on the somewhat disturbingly named "Death Rail" and went for a quick trip. It was really beautiful, and right on the river. We checked in to a different hostel last night, turns out it is also right next to a club...but at least our room didn't shake. Up early again this morning to go to the floating market which amazing! It was really interesting to see and we got a couple boat rides out of it! Off to Chiang Mai tonight on an overnight sleeper bus...so off to buy some earplugs!