Photos and Luang Prabang

Here are couple of photos of Halong Bay in the mist


 


There are over a thousand of these islands towering from the sea




Even out there the sellers manage to find a way, I love that she was selling pringles amongst other things, very authentic.


LAOS



This is the Nam Kham River that we crossed by a bamboo bridge that is errected from scratch every year at the start of the dry season, it is not possible to cross between June and November when the river is high



As we crossed there were children splashing around either side having fun.

The town in Luang Prababg is lovely with a beautiful Royal Palace, Wats and Temples to see, and makes for a lovely walk. The town is so clean and there are the most amazing coffe shops selling fab croissants, cakes, pastries and also some lovely restaurants with very nice menus.

I have to say it's refreshing to see something other than rice and noodles.

Last night the 2 girls I met and I went to the night market for food. They have big long tables with vast amounts of freshly cooked vegetable dishes, you are invited to help yourself and fill your plate for 80p, if you want grilled fish, chicken or pork that was a further 1.50. I had a whole fresh fish that was lovely and heaps of fresh veg that was a real treat.

This is The Museum

The towns folk are happy smiley people and are not into the hard selling as much of SE Asia is. In fact quite the opposite, they are so laid back and chilled you have to wake them up to ask the price of goods.

Talking of which, the things for sale once again are beautiful such as colourful hand made bags by the hill tribe ladies, silver jewellery, bed covers, scarves and silks to name but a few, and once again at very competitive prices.

I would love to buy lots and know that many of my friends would love the stuff too.

I am considering shipping some home by as I wont get the chance again, I could even have a small shop at home for some bargains if friends like the idea.?

The town has the Mekong river one side and the Nam Khan river the other side so there are some good river cruises and walks to be had and makes it very scenic.

I climed up 232 steps to get to see this view, it was a hot climb. there is a small temple at the top and I sat inside with Budda  to cool off

Well, actually a lot of Buddas, there are always candles, joss sticks and yellow flowers at the base.

This little chap and his brother were hitching a ride

Well that's enough blogging for today, It's cooled down outside so I am off to get a fresh fruit shake by the river and read my book....bliss

Ha long Bay - Goodbye Vietnam

We went on a trip to Ha long bay which on a sunny day is beautiful by all accounts, sadly we had no sunshine.

It's a 'must do' while in the area so we booked a day trip and this is what was promised:
8am pick up
3 hr coach journey
4hr cruise around Ha long Bay
No more than 16 people on the boat
No extra costs
No kayaking (or waiting on the boat while others did kayaking)
Sun deck with seats
Seafood lunch

This is what we got:
8:50 pick up
3hr 45 min  journey in cramped mini bus
1 and half hour of cruising
43 people on the boat
Boat stopped after half hour for locals to row us through caves at extra cost of $3 (if you didn't want to go you waited on the boat)
Another hour wait while people kayaked (which they pre paid for  with their booking agents)
4 seats on sun deck the rest of us sat on the floor boards
1 grilled fish between 6 people with some rice and noodles

What a rip off, and, as with most of the tours there is no come back as they deny all.

I am now in Luang Prabang Laos, I arrived last night at 7:30pm, I met a couple of girls at airport and we travelled here together, we met up this morning and spent much of the day walking through this tranquil town.

It is absolutely beautiful, I got a double room in a guest house with views over the river, it had a  power shower and breakfast included which I ate on the river side this morning, the views are stunning and the town so laid back, the contrast between here and Hanoi couldn't be more different - and it's hot!!!

I left a piece of my heart in Cambodia and I left certainly some of my nerves in the cities of Vietnam.
The mopeds and beeping of horns was continuous, trying to cross the roads with 6 lanes of traffic  and arriving the other side with your life in tact was an accomplishment in itself.
You literally had to walk right out into the traffic at a slow speed and let them negotiate around you.
I am so pleased to have left the madness behind.

It wasn't all bad, the Mekong Delta river market was wonderful and some of the other places were lovely but the big cities were not. And the grey weather up north, yuk!

Before I leave Vietnam behind there are a few stories to tell.

Before we went to Hanoi I decided to prepare myself and get some warm garments so I took myself off the the local cheap  clothes market. I was he only foreigner for miles.

As I was browsing a local lady tried to sell me clothes I didn't want by shoving them under my nose.
I said I was going to Hanoi and needed a coat and trainers and a scarf, not the nasty flowered shirts she was trying to sell me.
The only word she understood was Hanoi and before I knew it 10 or so stall holders were all laughing and shouting Hanoi Hanoi, rushing over with massive thick coats indicating that it would be cold.

When I got to the trainer section a woman literally got me by the arm and pulled me into her den of plastic, horrible cheap shoes and sat me on a small stool.
She took off my flip flops and began to put on every dam shoe she had, most of which were either far too small or big as well as being awful colours like pink with yellow stripes or black with red stars.
Every time I resisted she talked really loudly in Vietnamese (well, obviously) and kept saying yes, Hanoi, she was trying to force on shoes on that were 2 sizes too small.
The whole thing was really funny and I kept  laughing loudly at her persistence.
It paid off as eventually she managed to get me to part with my money on a semi ok pair, when I got out of her den another women tugged my arm and put it into the sleeve of  mans donkey type jacket saying Hanoi Hanoi.
I declined the offer and bought one resembling something you might find in Primark  and paid 4.50.

There was the time on Phu Quoc Island that we came back from the beach and  I left my one and only pair of leather flip flops outside the bungalow so as not to take sand in.
When we went to go out that eve there was only one to be found, we both started looking and had all the staff  hunting high and low around the gardens and bungalows.
By morning it was still no where to be found and I had to face to prospect of leaving without it and buying a plastic pair.
Then, by chance I saw it right over the other side of the complex under a sun lounger.
It had been taken by one of the family dogs and had been chewed on one side and had canine teeth holes through the leather.
After a repair job with needle and thread it was wearable so happy ending.

A funny thing we saw was  a place to eat called 'My Dung Restaurant' and would you believe they were selling steamed crap!
Truly, it was on the menu ( maybe it should have been steamed crab?)  We didn't go in to find out.

Speaking of food, it turned out that the cuisine was not as good as the guide book had suggested.
Maybe it was the language barrier but we never seemed to get what we ordered, at least half of the meals we were served were wrong.
A lot of stir fried vegetable dishes  included chunks of onion and green pepper which neither of us like, every time we asked for the dish without  half the time it would come with both or one of them included, luckily for me Frans is as particular if not more than I am so he would always say something.

They also never served 2 meals at once so one of you had always eaten at least half the meal before the other one arrived.
You wondered if they had any common sense as the hot dish would come before the salad or they would bring out the meat followed ages later by the veg or rice.
One time a  girl on the next table only ordered a baguette and french fries to make a sarnie (yes, she deserved all she got) firstly the chips came. then 5 min later she was brought a  toasted baguette cut into slices.
She said she only wanted a  baguette to make a sandwich 'yes, baguette' the waitress replied. After a lot of explaining that she just wanted plain bread the waitress went off again.
By now the fries were cold and the girl was stressed.
After at least another 5 mins, her boyfriend had long eaten his food and was now outside having a cigarette, along came a very toasted almost burnt baguette.
The girl left it and ate 3 of her cold chips.

One lunch time I ordered a seafood salad  described on the menu with carrot, green mango, tomato and lettuce. When it came it had no carrot tomato or lettuce but onion, green pepper and loads of crushed peanuts on top, why would you peanuts with your prawns?
After 3 attempts of having the salad taken away and  having  variations on the theme put on front of me I got the menu and pointed out the ingredients printed, to which the waitress replied 'oh! you want what is on the menu'
Hardly rocket science. Needless to say Frans had eaten his long before.

There are still Xmas trees, Happy Christmas wishes and decorations all over Vietnam. not sure when or if they ever take them down.

We went on a trip and I fancied an ice cream, I opened the freezer and took one out and it had clearly been defrosted and refrozen as it was misshapen, on inspection they were all the same.
The lady came over and said hello lady 30 Vietnamese dong please.
I told her that they were not good and handed her one, she yelled out to colleagues and there were 2 pr 3 of them rummaging through the freezer, when they found one only slightly the wrong shape (but clearly had been defrosted at some point) she said ok lady you only pay 20 Vietnamese dong.
I told her I wasn't even going to pay 60p for salmonella, bloody cheek of it.

One of my favourites is how you are sometimes addressed by what they are selling, so Frans has been greeted with "Hello Banana' which always makes me laugh, I have sometimes taken the title of 'Madam Tuk tuk' or 'Madam Coconut'.
Recently a seller came up to me saying 'Hello donut', I know I am not slim but there is no need to call me names!

So, the Laos chapter begins, so far so good, I won't mind spending a few days chilling out here,
Will get some photos up soon

Around the streets in Hanoi

Well, the weather has been grey and chilly since we got here so I haved booked a one way ticket to Laos on Saturday, leaving Frans to do the rest of the trip north by himself.
He will then travel over land across the boarder and we will hook up about 4-5 days later in Luang Prabang Laos.
I am sure he doesn't mind as he can do everything he would like to do and at twice the speed, and not have to listen to me whinge about the cold.
In addition, as much as I would have loved to have seen the scenery, it was at a high elevation and above the clouds in places, therfore no guarantee we would even get to see the beauty given the current weather.
I was really not looking forward to the long train/bus ride up some very hilly terrain either so in all feel good about my decision to go straight to Laos and heve some chill out time.

The past couple of days has been walking around the streets of Hanoi, as a city it doesn't have much to offer in the way of sights, and combined with the dull weather, it has been my least favourite place in Vietnam.
In the old quarter where we are staying the streets are narrow with the usual madness of mopeds going up and down them.
Problem is, they have to park somewhere and as the streets aren't wide enough they park on the pavements leaving pedestrians walking in the road along with cars and bikes all vying for a pathway through.
It's bloody crazy and with all the constant tooting of horns my stress level has gone right up.

All the bikes parked on the pavements force pedestrians into the road, here you can see they are even startin to double park

A space between parked scooters is always a good place for a spot of lunch and looks pretty hygenic too



Or you could burn your rubbish

Is this what they mean by your local 'high street butcher' ?



Get your herbs here and raw meat next door

Picnic on the roadside

I wouldn't want to be an electrician here

I couldn't resist this one for the girls and Mark!

Here is another one for my friend Mark who told me to stop putting up photos of old ladies so he has got one of an old man instead x

So, that's it from Hanoi, we are going to Halong Bay tommorow and the forecast is sunny!!
Let's hope so.

How sad about the earthquake in Christchurch NZ, thankfully Mum and John had left 2 days before so they are fine.

Hanoi 6.30pm

Hello, any one would think I have nothing else to do but blog.
We found a good guest house (well Frans did) in the old quarter, nice big room.
Spent the day walking around and applied for a visa extension as our 30 days are up tomorrow.
We want to do a Halong Bay trip and have decided to go and come back in the same day, not because of recent events (for any one who doesn't know a tourist boat sank there a week ago in the early hours killing 11 people) but because we feel that we can see what we want to in a day and it's expensive to stay on a decent boat.
After a few days here we plan to go on a 10 hour over night train to Sapa, even more north, almost to the border, the pictures look beautiful and as it's high up there are amazing views if we get lucky with the weather, there are 2 day trekking options with a night homestay with a local family, so that will keep us busy gor the next week or so.
All this traveling and planning gets tiring at times, right off now for the usual wine and dine.

Hanoi 6.30am

Good morning from Hanoi.
Well, we have just got off the sleeping bus after a 13 hour  drive further north, but thanks to the driver and the locals talking all bloody night not a lot of sleep was had.

So much for the bus only meant to make one stop, he must have stopped about 15 times en route to let locals on and off the bus, they hadn't officially bought tickets so the driver pocketed  a bit of cash for himself.
It wouldn't have been so bad but each time he put the main lights on and then proceeded to talk really LOUDLY for ages with whoever got on. They were laughing and joking and unfortunatelty for me I was at the front so heard it all.
If the driver wasn't talking to a local in the flesh he was talking to one on his mobile phone, it must have rung at least 20 times during the night.
Who on earth keeps phoning a bloody bus driver when they know he has a bus full of 30 people and is driving for 11 hours straight (after the one stop we made) ?
So, a lot of the journey he was driving and changing gear with one hand, but I live to tell the story.

It's drizzling here, we got a taxi to the old quarter on arrival as that's the nicer side of town, Frans has left me minding the bags with a cup of coffee in a hotel lobby while he has gone off to look for a room. I am straight on the free internet even though we are not staying here.
I will continue the Hanoi chapter as we go.

Hue

We arrived in Hue, pronounced Hway, yesterday around 3.30pm after a scenic train journey  following the coast line to the right with  rural scenes of rice fields and forest covered hills to the left.

It was the 18th February, the date our (mine and Debbies) original flight home had been for, 100 days exactly since leaving, so much has happened during that time, I still think about Deb and wonder if she has any regrets,she has certainly missed a lot of amazing sights and places, but I also realise I have probably seen alot of them because she wasn't with me,
C'est la vie

After looking at about 5 guest houses I found one with a really large bright room with a terrace and the most comfortable bed I have slept in during my travels for 9pds a night.
It is so ridiculous when compared to prices in the UK or any where in Europe for that matter.

It's quite chilly here so I have bought a scarf and socks, as most of the women her wear flip flops (as do I), imagine my excitement when I went to buy some to find  they have a seperate piece for your big toe how fab is that?

They come in all colours and stripes so I might get more daring as time goes on.

Today we walked around the Citadel which is what was the Emperors Palace and its grounds, I wasn't inspirted to take any photos as it was overcast AND EVEN LIGHT RAIN at times, (hence the only photo today is of my sock).
It was the first day since leaving home that it's been grey and it's horrible, in fact reminded me of a day in England. I am seriously not amused and am very much looking forward to getting back south.

There is a river here and interesting old town and market which we will see in the next couple of days then it's off to Hanoi and Halong Bay which is another 13 hour bus ride North so will need to stock up on those sox!

Off to hue

Firstly, in response to my friend Kims comment - It's twins, oh my god!
Congratulations, and good luck, you're gonna be busy girl. they will have 2 'Auntie Lisas', we can have one each.

today we will get the train to hue (cant get some capital letters on this pc) its a day train- 3hrs, geting further north, will  be half way up the east coast, it's going to get colder the further up we go.
 I will check in with some pics later

hoi An

We arrived in hoi An 6.30 am having slept the night on the bus, it was fine. We found a place to stay and were out in the beautiful old town by 9.30.
What a contrast to Nha trang, it's a small quaint town with the ancient city having French style houses over 150 years old, we walked a tour mapped out in the lonely planet which took 5 hours, it was stunning and also has a beautiful river front.
Last night was full moon and once a month when that happens the whole town has coloured lanterns every where including huge ones on the river, and lots of small candles in paper holders for sale that you can float on the river.
It was so so lovely to see, there were so many people out and they are so much friendlier here. We had a lovely night


One of the shop fronts complete with old lady

the shops were selling art, crafts and beautiful silk scarfs and bags at a fraction of the price we would usually pay,raw silk is produced here, there are also tailors on every corner making clothes



the river along the front of the old city

Still working wel past retirement age

hoi an is beautiful, a quaint old town with houses 150 years old built in French style
All the roads in the old town look like this

We were invited into one of the houses to look around and there was this lovely 96 year old lady living there

As we were walking through the market a girl approached me and upon inspection of my upper lip, called me a monkey, and grabbed me saying 'no pain, no gain, no monkey', and procceeded to take me down an alley way and behind some curtains and started to pluck out the hairs with thread!
Cheeky cow, lifted my arm up and said 'oh my god monkey' and started to exctract some of them - it bloody  hurts.

I got the mirror as  I had to inspect, meanwhile Frans was thinking it was hilarious and taking pics of it all.

Men at work

Beach life in Nha Trang

Last night (Feb 14th) Frans treated us to a fab meal of grilled fresh lobster and king prawns, washed down with a nice bottle of wine. To finish I had my favoutite cocktail B52, for those of you not familiar it  has 3 tiers, kahlua. baileys and cointreau, yummy!

This morning we went off in a rickshaw to an aquarium which ưas good.
We spent all afternoon on the beach watching the locals sell their wares, this is what was on offer today:

All kinds of drinks including fresh coconut
10" rice crackers, made fresh thís mỏrning
Monkey nuts
A man with a box of cigarettes, disposable lighters and sweets
Man with lots of sunglasses
Lady with fresh fruit, including, pineapple, water melon, banana, mango all prepered in front of you.
Man with maps, postcards, snacks and packs of tissues
Man and wife with fresh crab, crevette and lobster, they had scales and weighed them out to price and then grilled them in front of you right on the beach on their portable barby.
The smell was great.

Pick your seafood

Now, that's what I call a prawn

And get it cooked.
The guy never took of hís crash helmet

Lady making to order and selling wrist and ankle bracelets
Many ladies offering massage, pedicures, manicures and hair removal with thread.
During the afternôn we saw a man have all hís back hảir taken off and 2 women have their lower legs done, ouch!

The ladies have a piece of tưisted thread and use their mouth and both hands to take the háir out one by one

Needless to say all the products on offer were at very reasonable prices, I love the fact that you can have all thóse things on offer without leaving your sunbed

Ok, well that's the end of Nha Trang, tonight we are on the 12hour sleeper bus (train fully booked) to

Hoi An, due to arive at 6.30 am

Nah Trang

We travelled in another 'sleeper bus' arriving in Nah Trang last night around 6.30pm
Having looked in the lonely planet for which area we wanted to stay in we took a 5 min taxi ride and had a choice of  about 6 guest houses in a small road just off from he sea.
We got a room in a place that had only been opened for 2 months, so bed and linen etc all new which is lovely for $12 a nught, thats about 8 pds!! ridiculously cheap.
We went to find a place to eat, the guide book had promised that food is good here and they weren't wrong.
We had a set dinner menu for $5 (3.50) Garlic bread each, followed by grilled whole fish for Frans, I had scallops, then Frans had breast of chicken with sate sauce with veg and noodles and I had pork steak with mushroom sauce with braised cabbage and pots, then we both had fresh fruit, AND a glass of wine or coffee (as he was on beer I got both glasses of wine)
I know I keep on about the prices but they are bloody cheap eh?

This morning we were up early, got a rikshaw to some ruins with a massive Budda on top of the hill and an amazing view of the town from the top.

Budda can be seen from all over town

View of the river and mountains as we walked through town

Then onto a fab black and white photography exhibition of life in Vietnam (many of his photos have won awards around the world)
We then walked through he town and all afternoon we walked along the palm fringed beach,

Beach

Local ladies

it's really lovely with big waves crashing onto the shore, Frans went in and did his beach bum stuff, I sat and watched. I can't be doing with the water going over my head

Beach bum

We are probably going to stay here a few days more then get the 12 hour sleeper train (over night this time) to the next main town. I am looking forward to sleeping on a train as I never have done before.
Right off now for more fab food and wine.
Got message from my Mum, they have arrived in NZ safe and sound

Mui Ne

We had good flight back to Ho Chi Minh City and checked into a place near to where the bus left for Mui Ne the following morning.

When we booked the bus the girl asked if we wanted a local  or a sleeper bus, we opted for sleeper thinking it would have reclining seats.
Imagine how funny it was when we boarded at 8am yesterday morning (having had a full nights sleep) and found that the bus had 3 rows of bunk beds, I kid you not.
It was almost full already so we both had a top bunk, they did have a slight raised head rest so we weren't completely horizontal for 5 hours but you couldnt sit up or you would bump your head!


How funny!

 After 10 mins I got to quite like it, we had a pillow and should we have needed it a blanket, and I decided it was good fun to be laying down watching Vietnam go by.
There were mainly locals on the bus and every time I looked behind me every one seemed to be sleeping, yes I know it was a sleeper bus but what had they been doing all night?

 It seems that all the buses up and down the east coast are much the same, so we will know what to expect tomorrow when we start off on the next leg, a 5 hour journey to Nah Trang.
We arrived in Mui Ne yesterday at 1pm, it is a 10km stretch of coast line with all the shops, restaurants and guest houses dotted all along.

We found a very nice place within 5 mins and got ourselves a room on the second floor with a balcony overlooking the sea for $20.


View from balcony

  It's fab! we left the balcony doors open all night and all you could hear was the waves crashing onto the small beach which was directly below us, it was so nice waking in the night and being lulled back to sleep by the sound of the sea.
A couple of times I went onto the balcony, there were lots of lights in the horizon coming from the night fishing boats.
Last night we had a nice meal at a roof top restaurant, there is a cool breeze here which is nice.

Today we woke early and hired push bikes as the 10km stretch is totally flat and easy to cycle along.
It was a lovely ride, we went to the fishing village as we wanted to see the night fishing boats come in with their catches


Lady sorting through the shellfish






 Fisherman carrying their net

   It was really interesting to watch, there were women  all over the beach extracting small shellfish from their shells and leaving behind piles of shells.



This lady like most wearing a face mask, socks and gloves, well it is their winter! - note the crushed shells on the beach

 
The shells had mounted up over the months and years,sand was made up of crushed shells, it was a pity really as they were quite pretty, the sort that can be found in UK seaside resorts for sale.

We saw baskets of freshly caught starfish. Beautiful!





Nice shot  with fishermen in small fishing boats in the foreground and the red sand dunes in the background

In the foreground ladies drying shrimps, on the beach the small round fishing boats and other fishing boats on the sea

Lady carrying starfish

We were the only foreigners around, it was amazing to see Local Vietnamese fishing life. This afternoon Fransfancied going to the sand dunes and hiking up and down them and also sledging down on a board, not my thing so he has gone with a guide on a motor bike and I am blogging, reading and perusing the touristy shops which is ok once in a while.
My Mum and John are going on a 5 week holiday to Oz and New Zealand tomorrow so I would like to wish them a safe and fab trip.

On the move

It's Wed 9th Feb and we are finally leaving Phu Quoc today.
It was hard to get a flight any sooner and I really didn't want to travel back to Saigon by boat and bus as it would have been 9 hours and we have a lot of  miles to cover, hundreds in fact over the next couple of weeks.
It's been a lovely chilled time here, the resort was lovely, right on the beach, the bill for 9 nights and all our food and drinks (including alcohol) came to less than 100pds each, and only another 80pds for the 2 internal flights, great eh?
So, if you are wondering how I am managing to stay out here so long that is why, it doesn't cost much to be here.
A bottle of beer is 36p and average price of a meal is 1.50, last night we splashed out and had barbequed chicken and aubergine, mixed salad,  jacket potato, 2 beers and 2 glasses of wine and spent just over 6pds between us, daylight robbery!
We are having a few hours on the beach today before heading back to Saigon, we will spend a night there and then have a 4 hour bus trip booked at 8am tomorrow morning on the first leg of our journey up the east coast.
So, soon there will be another lot of photos...

7th February

It's a year today that my dear Grandma left us.
She was 99 years and 300 days old.
I think about her loads and all the lovely times we shared.
She would have loved to have heard all about my adventures here, but of course if she was still alive I wouldn't be here as I could never have gone for so long.
But she is here with me, in my heart, and I know she is happy that I am enjoying all the places I am seeing and all the wonderful sights and sounds of nature that surround me.
Never forgotten Darling Grandma xxx

Round and about Phu Quoc

We spent the last couple of days swimming and sunbathing on the beach, the plan is to leae he in next coupledays (depending on availabe flights) and then work or way up the east coast of Vietnam until it gets to chilly, alot of people have come from north and say its really cold.



Last night we went to the food market, there was lots of seafood on sale including these honches, if you order them they slice them and put them straight on the barbeque

We hired a scooter today to zip about the Island, Frans drove, (all very safe Mum), hardly any traffic on roads as still holidays here - photo outside our room

We stopped off along the way in a small town and tooksome photos of the daily life

This machine squeezes the juice from sugar cane (see the pot below) it is served in a glass with ice, it's lovely

 


Lady shading her head with a cardigan

 

Relaxing moment

Market seller

Butchering the meat

It can be very tiring selling grapefruits (she was asleep for the half hour we were there)

This guy was selling drinks from his push bike

This is the new year shrine in the reception of where we are staying. They are every where inside homes and shops, offerings of yellow flowers, food and drinks to the gods