Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)

Saigon is a mad city. 9 million people and 5 million motorbikes make for plenty of hustle and bustle.

I slept OK on the bus so I headed straight out in the morning with a Swedish guy I met on the bus. We managed to see most of the sites inside the city of Saigon. There isn't anything really spectacular here, but there are one or two buildings of interest.

In the evening we met up with another guy from the bus (yet another Irishman!) to go to see the market and go for a few beers in a bar in the backpacker district. It doesn't seem to ever close so we were up pretty late. The next day was a bit of a lazy day, during which eating breakfast was about the most strenuous activity!

In the evening I met up with Adrian (the Irishman) and we went back to the same bar although had a much earlier night as we were both booked on tours of the Cu Chi tunnels the next day.

The Cu Chi tunnels are an amazing network of tunnels built by the Viet Cong to help them hide from and fight the South Vietnamese and the Americans. After a bit of a history lesson and a look at some of the traps they used we were able to walk through an 80m section of tunnels. Well walk isn't really the right word as the tunnels are only about 3 ft high and less wide. And this is after they've been widened twice for tourists! The Viet Cong used to live in these tunnels for most of the day and only come out at night. They had ingenious systems for letting out smoke from cooking with the early morning mist, as well as spiky traps and little holes where they could jump up and shoot unsuspecting GI's.

The tunnel complex also featured a shooting range so I just had to have a go! It was pretty expensive at $1.30 a bullet but I thought what the hell and got 10 for an AK47 machine gun! Well, I thought, when am I going to get another chance to do this? The noise was deafening and I'm not really sure if I hit the target much but it was fun.


That evening was to be my last in Vietnam so of course it was going to be a bit of a sesh. But Adrian and I had booked on buses for Phnom Penh in Cambodia for 8 am so we had to be a bit careful. Oops, I wasn't careful at all. Three separate groups of people I'd met along the way in Vietnam turned up so we had a big group of 9 or so people at least. This was going to be an epic session after all! It was really good fun and a great way to say goodbye to a country I've enjoyed so much over the last month. We finished up at 6 am and Adrian and I said we may aswell stay up so I went off to pack. However when I got back to my room my bed was just calling at me to lie on it for an hour. I set my alarm but my inebriated state of course meant I did it wrong! Next thing I know and it's 12'o'clock. Doh! I legged it down to the travel agents and managed to blag my way onto the last bus of the day at 1pm for no extra money. Phew! At least I was on my way, even if I was 5 hours late!

Nha Trang

The bus journey was mediocre. I met up with Fern, an English girl I also know from Hanoi randomly on my bus. We also saw the Irish guys and gal at the rest stop half way. It's so weird with some people, it's like there's some magnetic link between you and everywhere you go they're there.

When we got to Nha Trang it turned out there was some kind of festival on and rooms were pretty hard to come by. We persevered though and eventually got some really good rooms for $7. Neither of us slept much on the bus so we hit the hay until the afternoon before going for a wander. We settled on a bar from the Lonely Planet. We were there about 10 mins and guess who walks in? The Irish! Well that was the beginning of a quality night. We headed over to The Sailing Club which is a classy bar on the beach. We got stuck into the 'personal buckets' - like big jam jars full of vodka, coke and ice, or pretty much any combi you want. Before long there was a bit of dancing, talking shite and frolicking in the sand going on!

Next day I went for a bit of exploring on a motorbike. I didn't really find much thought. Nha Trang is a destination renound for its lovely beach and nightlife rather than it's historic sights. That night I went to the Sailing Club again with Fern and the personal buckets were no less potent! I had to go back and experiment for research purposes you understand!

Amazingly I actually managed to get up OK the following day and rent a bike to go to Ba Ho waterfall. It's a pretty nice ride an hour out of town. The road took me through the mountains where I could see the whole town laid out below. Although Highway 1 wasn't one of my favourite moments, it's just a case of hang on and get out of the way of anything bigger - e.g 10 tonne trucks! The waterfall was nice if not spectacular and it was a worthwhile day out.

The night was pretty uneventful as I was to leave the following day on yet another 12 hour bus journey to Saigon.

Hoi An

Hoi An is nice, if a little dull. Actually I probably think that because it's quite a lot like Hue and I had a feeling of been there done that. I also had a little bit of a cold and sore throat that possibly put me on a bit of a downer in general.

The first day I arrived just consisted of a little bit of wandering around the little town. On the positive side it is a very attractive little place with old french colonial style buildings and winding little streets. It's reminiscent of being in some old film set. A lot of character sums it up well I think.

In the evening I took a stroll out for dinner and a beer. Usual thing, find a place with a pool table and you get talking to someone before long. I met up with an English guy and a Welsh girl and I think the pool table must have had big pockets because I was kicking ass for once! After that bar we headed on to one of the towns few late spots - King Kong bar. It was run by a jovial Canadian fella (and his dog called Stinky!). He took us off to another random bar to see the sunrise over the river which was very beautiful. I got an especially good view as an old lady offered to take me out to the middle of the river in her little canoe! The little thing was shaking all over the place as I fidgeted but she managed to keep it upright and even let me row it back to shore. Very random. After that I headed off for a noodle soup breakfast with Josh (the Canadian) and hit the hay.

Obviously most of the next day was one of those all too common washouts but I managed to make it out for the evening. That night I met Esther from Holland around the same pool table and ended up hanging out with her over the next couple of days. The following morning I got up and rented a bike and cruised over to the beach for some much needed r and r. After a good afternoon topping up my tan and swimming in the South China Sea I met up with Esther for dinner. I'm proud to say not one drop of alcohol passed my lips! For a whole day, it's a rare occurence!

Next day I met Esther bright and early (at 10 am!) and we got some more bikes to head over to The Marble Moutains. Unsuprisingly they are mountains made of marble where you can visit some quite impressive holy caves and sweet little pagoda's. Really nice, even if the ride was a little bit hairy at times. Vietnamese driving is not safety first I can tell you.

I was due to head off to Nha Trang the following evening so we went out for a last dinner and some food. We bumped in Josh which is a common occurence in these parts in such small towns and relatively few ex-pats going to the same places. Then slightly later in the evening I bumped into some of my Irish buddies from Hanoi! They were down to 3 now as another 3 of them had got bar jobs in Hanoi! I had a few with them and it turned out they were also off to Nha Trang the next day.

I got to bed pretty late again and just spent the next day packing and sorting my stuff out for the 12 hr bus journey ahead. I have to say I'm getting a little bit tired of buses now. I think I might look at getting boats or something around Cambodia.

Hue

I've been in Hue for 4 days now. It's a nice quaint little city with a lot less hustle and bustle than Hanoi.

The overnight bus journey here wasn't one of the better ones. I didn't sleep all that well, but it was a nice big comfortable bus so it wasn't too bad. I got in at 8 am and ducked in somewhere for a coffee while all the hotel touts buggered off. They're always there in every town and city but I've learnt that they are usually employed by the over-priced places in poor locations, i.e. the places that need to literally drag you in, in order to get any business. After 10 mins I walked off by myself and found a decent little place for only $4 a night.

Since it was early morning which I don't usually see I thought I'd start sightseeing early for a change. It was already really hot at that time of day but I cracked on anyway and went for a walk around the City's famous Citadel, where the Emperor used to live. Unsuprisingly it is an absolutely massive place and it took ages to walk around. By the time I'd finished it was the middle of the day and I think possibly the hottest temperature I've ever experienced. I went and chilled for a bit before heading out for a much needed cold beer.

I went to the DMZ bar and got talking to an English guy over the traditional travellers meeting dance, a game of pool. I didn't sink many pool balls but I did manage to sink quite a few of the local Huda beers at 30p a pop. Which reminds me, I think Vietnam is the cheapest country I've been to on my travels, which is weird as everyone I spoke to previously seemed to think it was more expensive than the other SE Asian countries.

Later on in the evening I bumped into a Kiwi I'd met in Hanoi. Bumping into people from previous locations is happening more and more now as a lot of people are on the same trail so I'm forever catching people up or vice versa. I went on with the Kiwi to another bar but it was empty. Hue being a nice and peaceful place doesn't have much of a nightlife. Still, there were a few people in there and we still managed to party until dawn!

The next day was non-existant for me, after the bus and late-night partying I didn't actually wake up until 4pm! Bit bad really as I had to have an early night to get up at for 5am the next day for my tour of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).

I miraculously managed to get up bright eyed and bushy tailed at 5am for the day trip. It was an OK day, there's not really much to see anymore as the Vietnamese have tried to remove as many traces of the war as possible, so basically we saw where things used to be. For example, the Ho Chi Minh trail is now the Ho Chi Minh highway. Great, I have a picture of a random road! There was one saving grace though and that was the tunnel system we visited. The local people stayed on to help defend the DMZ and used the tunnels for shelter when the Americans bombed the area - which was quite often! The tunnels go 15 and 23m underground and are really thin and low, built for tiny Vietnamese people. I also met a few people on the tour bus who I went for a few beers with in the evening.

The day after was a quiet day of wandering and sitting in cafes. Mostly sitting really as it was just too hot to do anything else. It's a constant 40 degrees in Hue. Next morning was another early(ish) start for the bus to Hoi An, a little town 4 hours down the coast. I'm hoping to get to the beach there as well as take in some of the historic sights.

Cat Ba

Not a lot to report from Cat Ba Island. I had 5 days of doing absolutely nothing but relax by lazing around on the beach and going to bed early. As a result I'm now darker than my poo after a night on the Guiness!

The beaches are called Cat Co 1, 2 and 3. Cat Co 1 is a bit of a package holiday monstrosity with a massive hotel behind it with the full works, including waterchutes. I avoided it and took the wooden cliffside walkway round to Cat Co 2. It's a little bay with white sand, clear blue sea and a view out on to some of Halong Bay's little islets.

Halong Bay is one of Vietnam's natural wonders. It's a bay (obviously!) with hundreds, or maybe thousands of little islands that burst out of the sea. The effect is a stunning vista but it's impossible to describe really so I'll post a few pics up from the boat trip I took on the way back to the mainland.

The boat took me back to Halong City where I got a bus back to Hanoi and then another overnight bus to Hue in central Vietnam. The bus ticket is an amazing deal, $22 (11 quid!) for an open ticket from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City at the other end of the country. It allows me to stop in Hue, Hoi An, Nha Trang and HCMC for as long as I want. I simply ring up the day before I want to leave and they reserve me a seat on the next bus coming through.

Hanoi

The bus journey from Vientiane was certainly an experience! This was no luxury coach, it was old and rickety and totally full. There were various boxes, crates and sacks being loaded onto the roof and into the aisles. Every bit of available space was put to use, filled with what looked to me like a load of old junk, but obviously its important enough to someone to transport it hundreds of miles to another country! I was not looking forward to spending 24 hours on it.


We pulled away from Vientiane at 7pm, straight out into the remote countryside, in the darkness with rain lashing down. It felt like the beginning of a bad horror movie. I spent the first couple of hours chatting to some of the people around me and reading my book. We pulled in at a little roadside rest stop for half an hour and then it was time to try and get some sleep. Thankfully Ally had given me a few of his valium tablets and they were an absolute life saver. I popped one of those and fell asleep on my big pillow against the window for a couple of hours until the next stop. We stayed at the next stop for 2/3 hours as there was no rush to get to the border because it doesn't open until 7am. After a little walk around and another valium I was out like a light pretty much until we reached the border.


Crossing the border was a bit of a hassle as there are quite a few forms to fill in and various processes to go through. There were no real problems though, except for when we returned to the bus we found the border guards had spilled a tin of green paint while they were searching it, covering the floor where the bags were being kept! A lot of rearrangement and a few green stripes on our feet, clothes and bags and we were ready to go again. I spent the rest of the day napping, talking and reading and it seemed to go relatively quickly and smoothly. Not everyone felt that way though, loads of people hadn't slept as well as me and thought the journey had been pretty hellish. Oh well, another lucky journey for me it seems. I think my threshold for putting up with discomfort and long boring journeys has really increased during my trip. It really doesn't bother me like it used to and I now just accept that we'll get there when we get there. I think this seems to be the Asian mentality towards journeys too so perhaps its rubbed off on me.

We arrived in Hanoi at around 7pm and I went off with a group of people I met on the bus to get a room. Three Irish lads, and an English guy and girl. After a much needed shower we headed out for an even more needed drink. We'd heard everything shuts at 12pm here, but soon discovered that its only the shutters that come down while the party continues behind them! A quiet beer turned into us returning to the guest house at 9.30 in the morning and the next day was a write off!

The following day I went for a stroll to the market and pick up a few things. I managed to get a t-shirt of the Vietnamese flag (yellow star on red background) and some fake Ray Ban's for $3. I also got an overdue haircut which seemed to take far too long, nothing like the 5 minute jobs I usually get at home. After that I took a wander round the lake and temple in the centre of town before meeting up with the others to go and watch the Champions League. This meant another late night as it didn't kick off til 2am here. I was pleased with the result as I didn't want to hear those scouse gits bragging for another year, and especially pleased as I had a fiver on Milan to win 2-1!

Today has been a lazy day. Most of the others are off on a train to go trekking to Sapa in the north tonight but I'm off to Cat Ba island to do nothing on the beach in the morning! It should be a pretty straightforward trip, just a couple of hours on the bus and then a ferry.

[UPDATE: The early night I had planned turned into a sesh til 5am in the Irish bar where one of the lads I was with has started working, but I'm now quite used to that sort of behaviour so the journey to Cat Ba was totally fine, if a little late starting at 12pm!]

Laos

The journey to Laos was not nearly as horrible as I'd imagined. In fact it was a few of the best days I've had traveling!

The bus journey from Chiang Mai to Chiang Khong was nothing special. The guy who was organising it seemed to be a bit drunk at 9.30 in the morning and I was slightly worried when he said he had a 'special room for you, double bed so you can take ladyboy'! Thankfully I did indeed seem to be one of the few with a double bed, but even more thankfully there was no sign of a ladyboy in it! The accomodation was a bit on the shoddy side, it was a row of bamboo huts with a shared shower and toilet block on the end, but it was adequate enough for one night.

After dumping my stuff I got talking to some of the other people who had been in my mini-van, and some more people who had arrived earlier. We sat together for the evening, ate dinner and had a few drinks looking over the Mekong river to Laos on the other side.

It was an early start in the morning with breakfast between 7.30 and 8.30, and then off down to the river crossing at 9.30. I was feeling sick and actually threw up my breakfast which is not what you want when you are about to spend 2 days on a boat! I took an anti-biotic I had bought in Chiang Mai and hoped for the best.

We all piled back in the mini-van for the short drive down to the border crossing, then into a tiny, precarious boat for the 150 metre river crossing. Within 2 minutes I had successfully negotiated my first overland border crossing and had my feet safely and dryly planted on Laos soil. After a quick immigration stamp and acquiring some Laos Kip (19,000 Kip = 1 pound!) and we were off to the main boat. There are some terrible stories about these boats from other travellers and within the Lonely Planet; everyone says they are cramped with only hard wooden benches to sit on for each of the 8 hour trips. I wasn't looking forward to it, especially as I vomited again going down to the boat. We had been told the number of our boat but as we were walking down to it a man tried to tell us to get in to another one. It had big car seat type seats and looked pretty luxurious but we assumed it was a scam to get us to pay loads more money, however when we reached our boat (with hard benches as described above) we were told it was full and they were using 2 that day, and we should indeed get on the luxurious looking boat. Result! After that we spent a nice relaxing day on the boat; reading, sleeping and just watching the beautiful scenery go by - with many envious looks from the people on the other boat as they occasionally came side by side.

In the late afternoon we arrived at our halfway stop-off, Pakbeng. We clambered up the hill to a nice guesthouse and had another relaxing meal along with a first taste of Beer Lao. Another early start in the morning combined with the fact they turn the electricity off at 10.30 in that region meant an early night for all.

We met up for breakfast and picked up our pre-ordered pack lunches (fried rice & spring rolls for me) and ambled down to the boat for 8am. Unfortunately our nice car-seated boat was not available this time... but we got an even better set up! The boat we were on had a big floor space at the back and loads of padded cushions and quilts to put on the floor. There were 9 of us so we quickly grabbed all the padding we could and made the space our own. It was perfect. We lounged around with much sleeping, eating and card-playing. It was like play-school!

In the evening we arrived in Luang Prabang (LP) feeling relaxed, refreshed and raring to go. It became apparent that we wouldn't all get into one guesthouse so we split up and arranged to meet back outside a restaurant (which became 'the meeting place'). Come nightfall we were sitting in The Laos Laos Garden, drinking sweet Lao Lao cocktails. Lao Lao is the local spirit and pretty potent I think. At 11.30pm it was kicking out time and it seemed the only place to go was the local bowling alley! Very random I know but the night was yet young so we headed off in a tuk tuk and some more drinks there.

The next day I clambered out of my bed at 11am and headed off to see some sights. I took in LP's most famous wat (temple) and then up a long stone staircase to LP's highest point. Halfway up I bumped in Sean and Aoifa, two of the people from our newly formed little group. We continued to the top together after a bit of a breather and took in the spectacular scenery. From that high up you can really see how remote LP is. Outside of the town, there is nothing but forests and mountains as far as the eye can see. After the climb back down we were wandering down the main street when I bumped into a familiar face - Ally from Pai. Well actually The Shetland Islands, but I know him from Pai!

Later that night we hit the town again. This time adding Ally and his girlfriend Courtenay to our ever-expanding troupe. After a few more Lao Lao cocktails it was that all too early 11pm closing time again. How did we cope when it was like this in Britain? After asking around it really did seem the only late night option was the bowling alley (or Bao Ling as it says on the sign!). This time we decided to actually bowl. We paired up for mixed doubles and my pairing kicked ass in the first game. We didn't fair quite so well in the next, which I'm certain has nothing whatsoever to do with the empty Beer Lao bottles that were piling up around my chair somehow!

The next couple of days were spent wandering the beautiful streets of LP and hunting for bargains at the night market. I'm the king of haggling in SE Asia thanks to my on the job training during my month in India. I think Ol' Blue Eyes got the wrong place because if you can do it there, you can do it anywhere! Much too soon it was time to leave. Most of the group were heading east to the Plain of Jars but I needed to move on quickly to get to Vietnam as my visa had already started. With this in mind I got a bus straight down to Vientiane, the Laos capital.
The bus journey was 9 hours during the day, but it really wasn't that bad at all. I arrived in the early evening and I was instantly disappointed with the city. There are quite a few concrete monstrosities and it's not particularly pretty as many of the guidebooks say it is. It's also really expensive for things like accomodation. Well, compared with other towns and cities in SE Asia anyway. I ate a meal, had a drink then headed off to bed.

The next morning I went for a wander around to see the sights and sort out my bus ticket for Hanoi. My first stop was the Morning Market where I went hunting for a cushion for the bus journey. The place was huge and sold everything you could possibly imagine from electronics to clothes to handicrafts. I managed to pick up nice big embroidered pillow for about $3. Next I headed off to see a big temple which is supposed to be the most impressive in Laos. To be honest I think 'quite nice' is about the upper limit of the superlatives I can use to describe it. It has a big gold spire in the centre and a square walkway around the edge where paintings by local artists are on display and for sale. I managed to pass half an hour or so before going to sit under a tree outside to escape the heat and consult the Lonely Planet on what else there was to see. I only sat for a minute before I was joined by a monk. He told me all about where he was from and what his life as a monk is like, and also what he wants to do in the future. Being a monk here isn't like being a monk in Europe, it's not usually a lifelong thing, they'll just do it for a few years and often study as well. A couple of monks I spoke to said they want to learn English well enough to become tour guides!

I passed the next day just wandering around and hanging out waiting for my bus that night. In the evening I was sitting outside my guesthouse waiting for my bus pick-up when a familiar face came bowling up the street, it was Ally again! He sat down with me as I waited... and waited... and waitied. The bus pick up was over 45 minutes late so I rang the bus company and they told me the travel agent had booked me on yesterday's bus rather than todays and that I couldn't go today as it was full. Great. It was slightly annoying as I had to fork out for another night in the hotel but I wasn't too bothered as it meant I was able to hit the town with Ally. We went for a few beers and watched a bit of the FA cup final before moving on to a club on top of a hotel, looking out over the Mekong to Thailand.

The following day was a bit of a groundhog day as I again sat around waiting for the bus, only this time with a slightly sorer head! This time the bus pick up did actually come and I was able to begin the epic 24 hour journey to Hanoi and another new country.