Posts with tag 'Vietnam'

Hanoi

Hanoi is again like any city here. A bit more westernised than Vientiane though. The first thing you notice about Hanoi though is the traffic. Hundreds of mopeds on narrow streets zipping past you, with blatant disregard for the rules of the road. Red lights mean nothing in Hanoi and the green man means target practice for the mopeds. If you want to cross the road, you just walk out and let them swerve to avoid you! Its crazy. Apparently Ho Chi Min is worse, although I don't see how it could be.

When me and Jonny arrived at the airport in Hanoi we got ourselves a bargained down taxi driver. He was leading us to the car park when a security gaurd stopped us, mentioned something about the mafia and showed us to the taxi rank. It was 2 dollars more than the mafia dude but probably worth it.

We didn't do a whole lot in Hanoi. It was very humid and with the traffic, getting around was a burden. We did get a new camera though, for a very reasonable price, because my charger still wont work. Not happy.

Another thing worth mentioning about Vietnam is that the women are stunning. The one at reception in our guesthouse looked like Tia Carrera! They are definitely much better looking than the Thai's. The people here are much friendlier too and their English is excellent. Will be looking in the lonely planet though to see if I can pick up a few phrases. The one good thing here though is that we can read the letters. In Thailand and Laos letters look like a drunk man had a piss in the snow!

The Irish girls that had made up our group in Laos met us on the second day in Hanoi and we went to dinner where a mouse ran across one girls foot and then on to a jazz club, where a rat hopped up onto the stage. It really is a filthy city. There are bags of rubbish thrown on the street. Its still a nice city though, but again I think 2 nights is enough. There are tours around Hanoi but all the travelling lately is starting to take its toll.

We went to the same Irish bar both nights we were in Hanoi, for a very simple reason, lock-in. Most of the places aeem to shut at 11:30 but we walked up to this place and they opened the shutters to let us in for a few. Not too shabby. Apparently they do a great fuck off fry too but we didn't bother going for that.

At the moment we are in Hue on the way to Hoi An. It took us about 12 hours to get here and we have another 4 to go I think. Its a quiet town but big enough, although again, I doubt we'll wonder it. We have big bags with us while we wait for the next bus. We are in a place that has free internet, and free pool. Will keep us occupied for a bit.

Looking forward to Hoi An. There are 30km of white sandy beaches there. Should be good. ALthough the weather is meant to be really bad down there. Will have to see how it goes.

Talk soon

Brian

Just had to try one!!

Us and the Irish girls at a Jazz club

Jonny and Mary

Bus Journey and Hoi An

So we left Hanoi about 4 days ago now, not really sure, it all kind of just blurs into one. We got a bus from Hanoi to Hoi An, on the Vietnamese coast. The bus was meant to take 16 hours but we left Hanoi at 8 and didn't get here til 6 the following evening. Jonny wasn't too bad on the bus, but it was agony for me. I had no leg room and was just in bits the whole way down. Not pleasant.

When we got to Hoi An we quickly found out that most of the accommodation was full. We ended up spending 15 dollars a night for a dive, so we said we'd get somewhere else. The place we are in now is 18 dollars a night, but its really nice with a pool. Its probably way too much and we shouldn't splurging on it but its nice and comfortable and I don't care, I just wanted a place with a pool :)

Of course on the the first full day here I managed to get sick. Had to spend the whole day in bed. Was not happy at all. Took a load of Vitamin C though and yesterday I felt a lot better.

Hoi An is about half way down the Vietnamese coast and has about 34km of white sand beaches. Unfortunately I haven't gotten to them, yet. It also has a tailors on every street, multiple tailors in fact. Everywhere you go, you pass loads of them. Jonny bartered one shop to 200 euro for 3 suits, 3 extra pairs of pants, 3 shirts, and 3 ties... All tailor made. I am still debating if I want to get a suit, although I doubt I will. I hate shopping too much, plus I have absolutely no need for a suit. The one I have is fine! Don't know if its worth the money, I could be spending it on fancy hotels :)

Hoi An seems to be Vietnams version of the Costa Del Sol. There are a lot of families here and couples and there seems to be less young people here. This serves to make everything more expensive, especially food and drink. There is apparently some festival on here but I haven't seen anything to do with it. Supposedly there is a sticky rice pudding festival! Wierd.

Till next time

Brian

First Day at the Beach

Before I get to the beach part, the picture is one we see saw in a bar here. I want to burn the picture, I hate that prick although I do think its very funny. Definitely in the "the world is broken Bono make it better" mould.

We went to the beach today, it was hot. I was kind of dissapointed though. It wasn't the pristine white sands I'd been promised. It was the same sand you get at home. The water was nice though. I was kind enough to share my cold with Jonny so he just panned out at the beach, which bored me to tears. I'd nobody to play with :'(

Was cool though, ate a crab although it was very hard work, there is a pic below. Not really all that much else to say, we're not doing much. I opted against a suit, Jonny got his.

Later

Brian

First night in Hoi An

Jonny sunning himself at the beach

My crab... Lets not stoop to make that joke

The beach

Off To Nha Trang

So today we leave Hoi An and head further south to Nha Trang. Jonny keeps reffering to it as a party place but to be honest I don't really fancy partying at the moment. Maybe when I get there I'll feel a little differently. All depends I supppose on the kind of people you meet there.

Last night we met the kind of English people you hate to meet, which is a real pity because all the other English people we met were such good fun and really sound. The ones last night were loud, drunk, annoying, full of themselves and insulting. They came down and sat beside us, 2 more Irish teachers and another English girl, completely univited. As soon as they sat down, there was no craic. The atmosphere completely changed so me and Jonny bailed fairly soon after. On the way home Jonny was saying he didn't even like the 2 Irish teachers, I thought they were great craic. They were just taking the piss, was quite funny (until those pricks sat down beside. Wish they'd stick to Aya Napa or Ibiza).

Looking at places in Nha Trang to stay and thankfully its back to places for $6 a night. Hoi An is so wierd, I really was expecting more backpackers and lower prices. Backpackers generally tend to just collect there suits and go, but it has been nice to just relax a bit here. Although it serves to just delay yet another 12 hour bus journey. All these over night journeys eat into the time you can spend in places without you ever realising. We now have 10 days before we are due to meet the lads, which will probably be broken down like so...

1 night - bus to Nha Trang
2 nights - stay in Nha Trang
1 night - bus to Dalat including stopping in Dalat (don't think we have an option but to stay)
1 night - bus to Ho Chi Minh
3 nights - stay in Ho Chi Minh

After that it looks like we need to take out the big money and fly Ho Chi Minh to Bangkok and from there to Ko Samui in the same day. Both flights are about an hour.

Will have to wait and see what Nha Trang brings

Last Pictures from Hoi An

These are the last few pics from Hoi An, one from last night, the rest for today. All we did today really was rent a couple of bikes and just cycled around a little bit with Cat who we met yesterday. Was good fun

Jonny, Cat and Me

Iker, Isa... I put up this sign looking for a friend. You think it'll work?

The Perfume river

Nha Trang

We arrived at 6 in the morning in Nha Trang 2 days ago, after an over night bus from Hoi An. The bus wasn't too bad this time though. Half the people on with were Vietnamese and they hopped off at early stage on the journey. So that left us with two seats each. When we got to Nha Trang, we went about trying to get somewhere to sleep. The general price we were being quoted was $10 but we eventually got the place down to 8. 2 girls from the bus had seen us do this and tried to get $8 too but they were hopeless. They asked if they could have the room for $8 where as we told them we're only paying $8. Getting the hang of this bartering lark though.

My "not in the mood to party" didnt last long. Went out on the first night. Jonny went home early and met a few random Irish punters in the sailing club on the beach, stayed out til about 3. That was good enough craic. We met a few Dutch guys earlier in the night and played a bit of Jenga. Great craic. Turned it into a drinking game, but I never lost... or won.... basically I never got to drink any of the cocktail we were using as the forefit. Probably turned out to be a good thing in the end.

Yesterday then we met 2 more Irish guys from Mayo and Tipp. Saw them again at the sailing club. The sailing club tries to charge in at night but I've bee there twice and never paid. I just walked along the beach and in through the back, where everyone is anyone. They're not very clever. Had a good night again went to a late night spot after the Sailing club. There was a nasty vibe outside though. A couple of fights broke out and I saw a western guy in a van with what looked like a load of sceurity guards. So we pretty much got out of there asap. Which was wierd though coz inside the place was fine. You get muppets everywhere I guess.

Nearly forgot....
I got robbed on the first night! Nobody came up to me, or approached me at least that made me think something dodgy. So I have no idea how, where or when this happened. All I know is that I looked in my wallet, I had money, I looked again later I had no money. They didn't take my cards or anything, just my cash. Considerate like that. I didn't lose all that much money though so I'm not too bothered by. Though I'd pop it in to the post though.

Later

Brian

The crowd from the first night... Jenga!!!!

The security guy got in on the fun too

Night 2.

For some unkown reason, even to him, Jonny kept sticking his tongue out!

Ho Chi Min City (Saigon)

We left Ho Chi Min yesterday after 2 nights. Its a really nice city, but again very similar to Hanoi. We arrived after an over night bus and got somewhere to stay. It was about $12. Not too bad but probably could have gone cheaper. After arriving we did the usual thing and had a nap to recover from the bus. After we woke up we went to the War Remnants Museum. It was fairly cool and interesting but a bit scatty. There was no real flow to the display. I don't really like museums though and I struggle to keep attention in them. This museum was very small though, much smaller than I had expected. Was interesting though. Some of the pictures, especially of the after effects of Agent Orange were quite horrific and I did start to get angry about it.

After the museum we did the usual Sunday thing and found somewhere to watch the soccer. They show pretty much every game in Vietnam. I assume its the same in Thailand too. So we sat in a bar, had a couple of drinks, watched united lose, watch Liverpool get raped by a referee and headed to bed by around 12. All in all, a good night.

On the second day we did a half day tour to the tunnels. Our guide was an ex Veteran who fought for the Americans during the war. He spoke a lot on the bus and I was glued to his every word. After a while he started repeating himself but first time round it was hugely interesting. He talked to us about reunification camp after the war but he didn't get into much detail about that. I would have loved to have gotten him on his own so I could have found out more. The tunnels themselves were again interesting but its extremely touristy so its hard to get a proper feel for it. While there we went shooting too. I fired a pistol, an AK-47 and an M-16. It again was disappointing because the guns are kind of strapped to a wall. You don't really get a proper feel for it. Got no where near hitting a target, but then again the targets were about 200 yards away. Would have been doing well. Everyone can feel safe in the knowledge though that if I try to shoot you, I'll miss... by a long way :)

Yesterday then, we arrived back in Bangkok and finally met those pesky wicked leprechauns. It was so great to see them. We are staying near Khaosan Road now, and there is a much nicer feeling here than the last place we stayed. There is no bad smell and we are getting much less hassle. Maybe I've just gotten used to it though. We went out then last night but I'll put up a post with pictures of that soon.

I have pictures of Ho Chi Min too which I'll add to here too when I get the chance.

Until then...

Brian

SE Asia, A quick guide

Right here is my guide/advice/review for SE Asia....

We arrived in Bangkok and spent 2 nights there. We stayed ages away from Khoasan road the first time we were there which was a huge mistake. You're stuck in traffic for hours then if you want to get there and it's where most of the stuff is happening too. We went into T.A.T to book our hotel the first time round and while we were there we booked trekking in Chiang Mai and our trip into Lao. If you wanna do it that way then thats fine but they will over quote you so haggle with them. I would advise not booking a place until you've seen it first. You can book something when you get to a place. We got the Vietnam visa sorted there too which is a must because you need it before you go to Vietnam. The second time round, we stayed on Rambuttri in a place called the Orchid Guesthouse. It was reasonably priced quiet location and near to everything (parallel to Khoasan).

In Chiang Mai, we stayed in BMP Residential which was nice, had a pool, was close to town, and organised the trekking. We got a VIP bus up there which was savage. Talking to other people who've been trekking I'd recommend going with the BMP Residential, they're the only crowd who spend a night at a waterfall, from what I gather (thats the 3 days 2 nights option). That for me was one of the highlights of the trip. Outside of Chiang Mai there are other places to see but I'm not sure of where or when.

From there we went to Chiang Kong to catch the slow boat. No matter what anyone tells you, you get you're visa at the border. If you do get the slow boat bring cushions the seats are uncomfortable. Lao is a gorgeous country but we spent the time on the tourist track. Tubing in Vang Vieng is decent but to really experience Lao I think you might need to get off the tourist track a little, I'm not sure how easy that is though.

Vietnam was the same as Lao, we just stayed on the tourist track. Around Hanoi there's Hao Lon bay (check spelling) and Sampa which we didn't see and are meant to be good. You can buy a bus ticket from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh for US$34 which lets you stop off in a few places. You can get suits in Hoi An but apart from a decent beach there is nothing else there. Hue looked nice but we only spent a couple of hours there. There are plenty of tours available but it might be best to see how much of the time you spend in a bus though. We didn't do anything. There is nothing in Nha Trang, maybe diving but Kho Tao is meant to be better.Stay a night or 2 and get drunk but don't waste too much time. The islands off the coast are meant to be nice, again we never made it there. Ho Chi Minh is cool. Its a good city and the tunnels are worth a visit along with the war remnants museum.

Kho Phangan is Ibiza but 10 years later. Full of English and Irish with nothing to do but get rotten drunk on a beach. Its good for a couple of nights but you need to be there long before the full moon to get anywhere. We were there 5 or 6 nights before. We stayed on the sunset beach which I think is close enough and far enough away from the action. Need to ask Jonny though.

Indonesia for me was the best place and the only thing that comes near it was trekking. The people there are amazing. We stayed away from Bali but there are the Gilli islands and Lombark in that general direction that we wanted to go to. We went to Sumatera, stayed as little as possible in Jakarta. If you only have a short period of time then Sumatera is you're best bet. If you want to climb a volcano the go to Berastagi. That place is amazing, the food, the people, everything. Around there as well is Lake Toba and Ketambe which we didn't get to see but heard great things about. From Sumatera we went to Bintan island. This place is a 2 hour boat journey from Singapore so you should make time for it. We stayed on Trikora beach in Yasin Bungalows, which is easy to get to. I would recommend going there during the week because a lot of people from Singapore go there for the weekend. I really recommend making time for the place.

KL is a really nice city and worth a visit but we didn't spend long enough there so I can't tell you completely what I make of it. I did like it though. Singapore is only good if you want to shop. After everywhere else in Asia it'll seem made expensive and drink is extortionate, even compared to Irish prices.

Any questions about anywhere, leave a comment and I'll do my best to answer....

Brian