Suzi 31/07/06 1
Fingers crossed this blog arrives ok as the current date order is
getting a bit confusing!
Had a marvellous time in Hanoi and Ha Long Bay. The old quarter is Hanoi is lovely and a complete maze, we got lost twice but got rescued by kindly cyclo drivers both times! We had our first actual ride in a cyclo too and was great fun. Wasn't sure we'd ever get out after we wedged ourselves in (the driver said we'd both fit and we did, but only just!) but fairy liquid was not required and we slid out with a bit of a pull! We also joined a friendly bunch of cyclo drivers for a few beers after they waved us over to a pavement cafe as we were walking past. Was really enjoyable as they tried to get us to down our beers in one with them and then smoke some waccy baccy together (note to self, never get a cyclo after 9pm, the drivers are either pissed or stoned, or both!!).
We also hired bikes again and had one day's mega-sightseeing. We went to Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum, Museum and House and then to the Temple of Literature. They love Uncle Ho in Vietnam and he's definitely in better shape than Chairman Mao, not so yellow even though he died 7 years earlier! Shame in some ways Lenin's mausoleum was closed when we were in Moscow or we'd have had a hat-trick of "the Great Leaders"! Overall though Hanoi is not as nice as Saigon and definitely the scam/con capital of Vietnam. Work on the basis you can't trust anyone and you're fine! We arrived very early in the morning from Hue (at 5am, haven't seen that time for a while!) and was nice to see the city at that time, before the touts get going. Most locals are up at that time, to exercise before the heat, and the lake was a hot bed of aerobics classes. Was really nice walking around the lake and enjoying the views of the temple across the hue bridge and glad we saw the city when we did.
Ha Long Bay was the highlight of the SE Asian part of our journey, definitely finishing on a high. It's beautiful and so relaxing. There is a legend that the thousands of little rock islands were formed many years ago when invaders came to conquer Vietnam. The gods sent a mother dragon and her dragon babies to help the Vietnamese. Just as the invaders' boats reached the shore, the dragons landed and shot a stream of pearls from their mouths, that turned into thousands of stone islands in the water. The invaders' war ships were not able to stop, and crashed into the islands, and so Vietnam survived the invasion. Whatever the truth (the geologists amongst you no doubt have the proper explanation!), the bay is amazing. We just chugged around on a junk, visited a couple of caves (which were awesome, with stalagmites and tites stretching from the floor to the ceiling) and then moored up in a cove where we went swimming. The swimming was the highlight!. The water was warm, green, which was amazing in itself, and really clean. Plus, I jumped off from the top deck of the boat so feeling very brave at present!
Now we're back in Bangkok and getting ready for our trip "back in time' to San Francisco (leave at 4pm HK time on 2 August, arrive at 1pm SF time on 2 August, very weird!). Survived the Air Asia flight unscathed, definitely better than RyanAir and super cheap and was a real experience arriving at Khao San Road at 2am! Could have been Reading at 2am with the amount of people puking on the kerbside, just a lot warmer! Spent yesterday cruising on the river (caught the ferry for a home-made boat tour as the tourist tours cost a fortune!), riding the sky-train, visiting the Jim Thompson House and then catching the bus home (once we had the right direction, all was fine!). Had a really nice day and the sky-train is fantastic, fully air-conditioned, cheap and not crowded. It doesn't have the "character" of the tube though!
The rainy season has now started in earnest so we are having to give the River Kwai a miss this time. Great weather for water buffalo (as they say in Vietnam!) but not so good for sightseeing! Spent the train fare on a thai massage instead and feel a bit like I've gone 10 rounds with Mike Tyson!! It's nice afterwards but when the masseur is standing on your back and stretching your leg the wrong way in the general direction of your head, nice is not the best description! Glad I tried it "when in Rome" but think I'll stick to the oils and soothing pan pipes music type of massage from now on!
Hope all is well and will write again from the good ol' US of A!
Had a marvellous time in Hanoi and Ha Long Bay. The old quarter is Hanoi is lovely and a complete maze, we got lost twice but got rescued by kindly cyclo drivers both times! We had our first actual ride in a cyclo too and was great fun. Wasn't sure we'd ever get out after we wedged ourselves in (the driver said we'd both fit and we did, but only just!) but fairy liquid was not required and we slid out with a bit of a pull! We also joined a friendly bunch of cyclo drivers for a few beers after they waved us over to a pavement cafe as we were walking past. Was really enjoyable as they tried to get us to down our beers in one with them and then smoke some waccy baccy together (note to self, never get a cyclo after 9pm, the drivers are either pissed or stoned, or both!!).
We also hired bikes again and had one day's mega-sightseeing. We went to Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum, Museum and House and then to the Temple of Literature. They love Uncle Ho in Vietnam and he's definitely in better shape than Chairman Mao, not so yellow even though he died 7 years earlier! Shame in some ways Lenin's mausoleum was closed when we were in Moscow or we'd have had a hat-trick of "the Great Leaders"! Overall though Hanoi is not as nice as Saigon and definitely the scam/con capital of Vietnam. Work on the basis you can't trust anyone and you're fine! We arrived very early in the morning from Hue (at 5am, haven't seen that time for a while!) and was nice to see the city at that time, before the touts get going. Most locals are up at that time, to exercise before the heat, and the lake was a hot bed of aerobics classes. Was really nice walking around the lake and enjoying the views of the temple across the hue bridge and glad we saw the city when we did.
Ha Long Bay was the highlight of the SE Asian part of our journey, definitely finishing on a high. It's beautiful and so relaxing. There is a legend that the thousands of little rock islands were formed many years ago when invaders came to conquer Vietnam. The gods sent a mother dragon and her dragon babies to help the Vietnamese. Just as the invaders' boats reached the shore, the dragons landed and shot a stream of pearls from their mouths, that turned into thousands of stone islands in the water. The invaders' war ships were not able to stop, and crashed into the islands, and so Vietnam survived the invasion. Whatever the truth (the geologists amongst you no doubt have the proper explanation!), the bay is amazing. We just chugged around on a junk, visited a couple of caves (which were awesome, with stalagmites and tites stretching from the floor to the ceiling) and then moored up in a cove where we went swimming. The swimming was the highlight!. The water was warm, green, which was amazing in itself, and really clean. Plus, I jumped off from the top deck of the boat so feeling very brave at present!
Now we're back in Bangkok and getting ready for our trip "back in time' to San Francisco (leave at 4pm HK time on 2 August, arrive at 1pm SF time on 2 August, very weird!). Survived the Air Asia flight unscathed, definitely better than RyanAir and super cheap and was a real experience arriving at Khao San Road at 2am! Could have been Reading at 2am with the amount of people puking on the kerbside, just a lot warmer! Spent yesterday cruising on the river (caught the ferry for a home-made boat tour as the tourist tours cost a fortune!), riding the sky-train, visiting the Jim Thompson House and then catching the bus home (once we had the right direction, all was fine!). Had a really nice day and the sky-train is fantastic, fully air-conditioned, cheap and not crowded. It doesn't have the "character" of the tube though!
The rainy season has now started in earnest so we are having to give the River Kwai a miss this time. Great weather for water buffalo (as they say in Vietnam!) but not so good for sightseeing! Spent the train fare on a thai massage instead and feel a bit like I've gone 10 rounds with Mike Tyson!! It's nice afterwards but when the masseur is standing on your back and stretching your leg the wrong way in the general direction of your head, nice is not the best description! Glad I tried it "when in Rome" but think I'll stick to the oils and soothing pan pipes music type of massage from now on!
Hope all is well and will write again from the good ol' US of A!
posted by Suzi and Thorsten at 3:07 pm
1 Comments:
Welcome to the USA!!
Have fun in San Francisco! Patrick and I were there just a couple of weeks ago to see his family. They live down in Fremont (South Bay) so not actually in the city itself.
Sounds like you guys are having an amazing time. I, on the other hand, am stuck in a library revising for my exams. :-<
Love to you both
André
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