Nha Trang
Headed to Nha Trang by overnite bus again... it was a bit of a killer, somehow they managed to reduce the space between the seats so that my knees were jammed against the seat in front, ouch! it was quite full on the bus too... oh well, we made it to nha trang ok and found a place to stay that had lovely view and hammocks and loungers on the roof. The room wasn't anything fancy but we did have a little balcony to ourselves.
We had a wander around the city and then tried to go for a bit of bike ride to see the sites. Talk about crazy traffic! everywhere we went was one way streets or 6 way roundabouts; piles of motorbikes and lots of chaos, not fun to ride thru! the nha trang people don't seem as friendly and kind as others we've met either, they seem a lot busier and rush everywhere. We had our first real western meal, mexican! It still had that non-western twist though, like cheese from a jar on my nachos. They gave us a free shot of banana rum, yum!
The next day we headed out on a Mama Linh all day boat trip (recommended by lots of people for being a good party atmosphere). The day was heaps of fun, lotsa sun and drinking and eating. We had a chance to snorkel at one spot and although the coral all appeared dead or dying there were still lots of pretty fish to look at... also a few tiny jellyfish that gave a bit of a sting, but it didn't last so all was good. We visited a couple of islands, jumped off the top of the boat, played volleyball and spent time at the "floating bar" (our vietnamese guide sitting in a rubber ring with bottles of wine and plastic cups!). It was a great relaxing day and met some nice people.
Ended up going out for dinner and a few cocktail buckets with some people from the boat, fun!
Next morning, bus to Mui Ne...
23 April
Hoi An
The bus trip to Hoi An from Hue was gorgeous, through mountains, past the marble mountains and marble carving villages and by the sea a lot! But stinking hot cause the bus was crappy and air con broken! The hottest day since we arrived in Vietnam too! Poor!
Arrived in Hoi An earlier than expected and found a lovely hotel. Cost a bit more than we have been paying but pretty flash with free brekky, bike hire, pool and nice room. So well worth it for a few days. We had a swim and then did some checking out of the town by following the Lonely Planet (bible!) suggested walk. Awesome architecture that is influenced by the Japs, French and Chinese as well as the vietnamese obviously! Gorgeous little town that has lots of character. When the sun sets the lanterns come out in full force, beautiful.
The next day we trawled the tailors (despite mum being quite fluey and sneezing all over the place, poor mum) and ordered ourselves some clothes. Everything is made in Hoi An and you can get anything you want, imagination (and pack space!) is the only limit. We are little unsure as to how everything will wear but hey, at the prices we got it really doesn't matter if it only lasts a little while!
In the arvo we got bikes from the hotel and rode the 5km to the beach. Just a normal beach but it wasn't so nice for swimming when we arrived so we cycled back along the river and stopped at a cute "floating" cafe for lunch. Sampled a couple of the local goodies - Wonton Soup and Cao Lao (soupy mixture of fat white noodles, wonton type croutons, pork and bean sprouts) - yum!
Next day we took a bus out to My Son - Cham ruins which are the Vietnamese equivalent of Ayuthaya in Thailand and Angkor Wat in Cambodia. VERY hot but at least the bus was air conditioned and we just had to hack it to see the ruins, pretty awesome to think some date back to the 7th Century! We headed back to Hoi An via small boat and had lunch on board, nice to travel on the water and much cooler. Had a quick stop off at a wood carving island and watched them carving away.
Picked up our goodies from Hoi An tailors - couple of pants and skirts for mum, pants for me, jacket for me and cute shoes. Look pretty good, will have to see how they last. We spent this morning cycling round over the other side of the river on an island, good to be off on our own exploring and saying g'day to the locals, very hot though! Well i'm pretty much up to date now, we are chilling out in our hotel foyer making the best use of free internet and the fans! Overnight bus tonite to Nha Trang, not again! Really hope it has air con or we are going to melt! Hopefully will be able to get back into myspace soon... CYA!
Hue
Finally arrived in Hue at about 9.30ish. Walked around a bit being hassled by hotel touts and looked in a few hotels before choosing a tidy clean one right in the middle of things. Went for a walk over the Perfume river to the ancient city, imperial palace, walled city etc etc and had a wander around. Government run place so of course it costs to get in but it was kinda interesting. I think we were both so exhausted that we really didnät appreciate it as much as we should have... We decided to get a cyclo back to our hotel, the cyclo guys were very eager and said two in one cyclo was no problem so in we both jumped, a bit of a squeeze but all was good... the dude did pretty well and we got back to grab some snacks, a beer each and had an arvo nap!
That evening we wandered over the river again but not much happening so just wandered around and had dinner. The town seemed quite affluent compared to others weve been thru.
Next day we went on a killer bus tour to the dmz... only a couple of stops and we were gone from 6am to 6pm. It was worth it though, learnt lots about the war and went thru the Vinh Moc tunnels that the vietnamese used to hide from american bombs, women even had babies under ground and sometimes the people were under for 10day stretches... very well built but cramped especially for the tall guys in our group. We also stopped at Khe San for a look thru the war museum. Very communist sway to the explanation text under the photos ie`here are some US soldiers looking depressed and tired because the viet cong is so strong^ funny...
Next morning we headed to Hoi An by bus...
Hanoi, Ninh Binh
Next we caught the nite train back from Lao Cai (Sapa) to Hanoi. Had a bit of a scare that we were going to miss the train but it all turned out fine. We got into Hanoi at the ridiculous time of 4.30am! Had no hotel to chill out in so to kill some time we walked down to Bay Mau lake with our packs and parked ourselves on a park bench. The park filled up very quickly with 100s vietnamese people exercising. Lots of weird stretching, bending and arm patting! Also found some ladies (and one fella!) doing some aerobics. We were the only westerners in the whole place and we got lots of stares (more interested than threatening). Started chatting to a girl who was studying english, i think she liked practising with us and we enjoyed chatting to a local.
Caught a cab back into the old quarter and dumped our packs off at our previous hotel - they have been very helpful! Mucked around for a bit, went to the History Museum although we were getting pretty sleepy by this stage. We found a hairdresser that looked ok and got my haircut for 10 bucks.... the guy had apparently been to america and singapore for courses and competitions... he seemed pretty decent! and still happy with the hair.
Caught the bus down to Ninh Binh, our first leg of our opentour bus journey down the length of vietnam, which was a bit of an experience. The bus dudes were very noisy and stopped every couple of k's to pick up locals or produce (i thought this was supposed to be the tourist bus!). luckily it was not a very long journey (bout 3 hrs) and we made it to Ninh Binh just before 10pm. Booked into the closest hotel they have a bit of a monopoly because the bus arrives late and the town is a few minutes walk away, too dark to go traipsing about the town!
The next morning we borrowed a couple of pushies and rode down to town to put in some washing and book a tour out to the national park. The town was quite small compared to Hanoi but the people seemed to have a lot more space... We then went the opposite direction down the main hwy then turned off and headed off to Tam Coc and the Ngo Dong River caves. The ride was lovely, not too much traffic, lots of friendly locals saying hello and heaps of pretty rice fields and karsts popping up everywhere. We paid the fees for entry and boat ride, hopped on a flat bottomed boat to be rowed thru the 3 caves by a couple of locals. It was awesome going UNDER the karsts thru the caves, lots of local action on the riverbanks too. Very hot and lots of other boats on the river though.
After the caves we rode around and looked at a couple of pagodas. On the way back we detoured thru a couple of little villages in the rice paddies, the locals were very friendly calling out hello and pointing us in the right direction. Got back thirsty for some local brew so stopped in a local shop in town for a drink and a baguette and watched the cute kids coming home from school.
The next day we went by xe om (motorbike taxi) out to the Cuc Phuong National Park with one english speaking and one nonenglish speaking guides. Drove thru lots of pineapple farms and small villages. Saw the monkey research centre (no, they dont do experiments on them) where they have lemurs, gibbons and macaques rescued from poachers and used for captive breeding, they also have a semiwild enclosure where they get them ready for release. Great facility for vietnam and seems very successful, lots of babies being born! cute as...
Next we went for a short up hill walk to the Cave of Prehistoric man where they have found bones, fossils etc. Cool cave, headtorches where a must. I climbed up a dodgy ladder which i realised halfway up that i shouldnt have attempted as it was falling to pieces and very very slippery and dark. but it led to another cave opening which was cool and i got down again ok!
After this cave we took the xe oms to another walk, 7km this time, went thru some beautiful jungle, saw a large 1000year old tree and another cave. Lots of steep steps up and down on this walk. I saw some wild lemur jumping through the trees, hard to spot but very cool! They also gave some warning calls to alert the others to our presence, eery sound.
We headed back towards Ninh Binh from here with a stop off at the Floating Village. It seemed like a poor village with very basic housing. They depend on the river for food, washing, drinking water and transport. Met some kindy kids who grabbed onto me and wouldnät let go, very excited and cute.
On the way back my bike slid out from under the driver and we came a cropper! Apart from a couple of bruises no one was hurt but mum got a bit of a fright seeing me under the bike! My driver was very apologetic and worried that i might have hurt myself but all was ok, im glad it happened on the dirt not on ashphalt.
Headed back to our hotel to wait for the night bus to Hue. Groan! 12 hour trip....
Hanoi, Halong Bay, Sapa
Well i've finally been able to access myspace! I'm in Hoi An now, which is about halfway down the country. We spent a few days in Hanoi, visiting Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum (which was closed), going to a couple of museums and generally sightseeing.
Our first trip was out to Halong bay which is east of Hanoi. Caught the bus out to Halong bay through lots of interesting countryside/towns. Heaps of motorbikes with huge loads of people or produce (wardrobes, pigs, chickens, lengths of wood), kids biking to school and other forms of crazy transport! We cruised around the karsts on the bay, did some kayaking, some cycling, visited a local village and stayed one nite on a junk (cool boat!). Had a really cool tour group with lots of different nationalities. Even managed to fit in a swim and got chased by some naughty little macaque monkeys on monkey island.
We headed back and had an afternoon in Hanoi then caught the nite train to Sapa (old french hill station in the mountains in the north). First day and nite it was very cold but managed to go for a walk around and suss out the city. Next day set off on a 2 day trek (along with Pam, canadian girl travelling solo) and homestay. VERY muddy climb down into the rice paddys and through numerous villages of the minority ethnic groups (h'mong, red dao, tay). We had lots of help from a group of h'mong girls who acted as living walking sticks, helping us through the mud. Of course they expected us to buy some of their handicrafts in return but i guess thats fair enough! Our awesome guide was Zizi, a 17 year old h'mong girl with excellent english (even down to the slang and a touch of an aussie accent!). Overnite stay in the minority village was comfortable and had a great dinner prepared by our hosts and cooked by our guide.
Well, thats probably enough for my first entry! More to follow...
02 April
Vietnam
Well i'm off to Nam in 3 days, woohoo! Starting the packing process today... If you're interested in what i'm getting up to just drop in every now and then... i'll try to add an entry every few days 
