Mar 05

We LOVED Hong Kong! It was a nice change to experience order and see a Starbucks for the first time in a while. We were very impressed with Hong Kong and the amazing public transport system where you can get anywhere..fast (under and above ground)! This time double decker buses and double decker trams ruled the streets.

It might be cement city but the buildings all have character and every night at 8pm there is a light show to music. You watch the skyline from the Kowloon side over the water and all the lights on the huge skyscrapers change colour and move up and down and sideways like a mexican wave effect all to music. I'm glad we experienced that.

And its a shopping paradise, we got lost a couple of times even with a map (and we were pretty good at navigating by this stage).. but its because the pedistrian over and under passes spit you out into more shopping malls and finding your way out without trying on clothes was not easy. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven! Anyway, we did buy a few things but didn't go as crazy as we'd like because of our 20kg limits.

We couldn't believe after two and half weeks of eating noodles in Vietnam served up by bare hands, and eating out of bowls that had been washed (or should I say rinsed) in a bucket of cold water that we didn't get sick ..not even a little off... but in Hong Kong after Mcdonalds on Nathan Road it was not pretty. Thank god for Imodiem, but our tour to China was not worth it (tip - Guangzhou day tours are extremely boring - spend your time visiting Macau instead). We were freezing! It was definately the coldest day we've put in for a long time. Anyway our tour was full of Aussies, which was good, considering we haven't done many tours with other travellers and everyone was very nice with good senses of humour, and all were a bit disapppointed with the day, but it was all worth it as we ventured out that night for dinner at the 'Joyful Peach' with two older Italian brothers for some duck.

Photos to come, in the meantime go to http://www.josieryan.blogdrive.com

We were picked up at our hotel by our guide (still not sure what his name was but we called him Pete). So he took us to the train station and when the conductor starting yelling at him we realised there was a problem..the tickets for foreigners cost more and are different, so we held up the train for a little bit.

The 3 hour train ride on the wooden bench seats on a rickety old train with people smoking all around us wasn't too bad, and glad when we eventually arrived in Haiphong. We were picked up by cyclos, suitcase and all we were transferred to our hotel which was really nice for a change.

The following day we were taken to the 'hydrofoil' (something which looked left over from the war), and off to Cat Ba Island where we jumped on the back of motorbikes and taken to the other side of the island for our boat cruise. We were the only tourists on this beautiful old wooden boat and sat up on the open deck with a bottle of wine and enjoyed hours of cruising around Halong Bay admiring its over 3000 beautiful limestone islands, and green water. The were little villages everywhere of tiny houses floating on water. We stopped only once to visit what was a secret cave, which was a small hole in one of the limestone islands. We were then cooked a huge seafood feast, this was definately the highlight of our trip to Vietnam.

The following day we set off on a bicycle ride through the countryside of Haiphong. We passed through villages of rice paddies and other farms. We spent most of time replying 'hello' as the locals seemed as if they hadn't seen too many westeners, but they were very friendly and we got a lot of pointing and laughters, greetings and a few 'Bonjours!'. The women here work so hard!! It really is equal opportunity in Vietnam, we've seen women unloading truck loads of bricks, cementing, farming, you name it, if a man is doing a labourous job there'll be a woman doing the same thing.

Hoi An is like a resort town. The locals seem to be obsessed with sweeping their streets, so we found Hoi An very clean. All the buildings are normally painted yellow with dark brown wooden carved entries. Its very picturesque. We caught motorbikes into town and back every day, on one of the trips the taxi rider was a young girl half of my size!! But off we scootered, no worries, we don't mind for one dollar! Anyway Hoi An although beautiful was a scheming little town. 'Hey where you from? You enjoying holiday? Come into my shop' constantly!!! They are even tricky enough to ride up beside you while you are on the motorbike taxi and start talking to you and then the conversation ends with 'I've got a shop would you like to have a look?'. Anyway, the cafes in Hoi An were beautiful, there was not a slummy one amongst them (which was a change). The town was full of both tailor shops and art galleries. The art here is amazing, I must say its inspiring.

Banana delivery man - Hoi An

Stir Fry anyone? Hoi An

We had a 4 hour drive from Dalat to Nha Trang, mainly down the 1000m decent from the hillside town that is Dalat. Possibly the scariest 4 hours of our lives. Our personal driver 'Toung' informed us that he was a very "careful" driver when he picked us up from the hotel. In a sense he was, and for the most part he drove quite well, it's just the whole Vietnam driving conditions that make it a little crazy, like the need for him to overtake buses on the hilside corners... with 100 foot drops to the ground below.

However, as scary as that sounds... the hill billy hoods that we passed really had us concerned. Just before the foot of the hills, we drove through a shanty town, and just on the outskirts was a group of beer swilling, shirtless early twenty odds... with a GUN!!! Obviously concerned... we asked Toung what the go was..... with a somewhat of a hesitation... to make something up... he suggested, "don't worry.. just shooting birds!" Funny, I haven't seen a bird since we got to Vietnam!!!

Anyway, reaching the foot of the hills we hit the "highway!"... a very narrow two lane 100km stretch of road with shanty town lining every meter... shanty town with cats, dogs, cows motorbikes and people just an outstretched arm away.

So.... try and picture travelling along a CBD street in peak hour at 100km per hour.... with elevator music blaring.... Toungs favourite... it was just a surreal experience!

We got to Nha Trang safe and sound... althought we felt like we had just done 4 hours on a show ride.. bit green around the gills!

Our first day in Nha Trang was spent on the beach. Our hotel owns a piece of it across the road. We hired day beds each. Jo had a massage by two ladies for 45 minutes. This sounds great... but when they pulled out what looked and smelt like a mixture of engine & fish oils for her massage... we were quickly back to the hotel for a shower!

Toung, the driver, who is actually a Nha Trang local, suggested a great cafe... the "Cyclo Cafe". We ate there 3 times! It has definately been a highlight of the whole trip. One of the dishes we ate was coconut chicken curry served in a fresh coconut, and when I say fresh, it was actually cut off the tree in front of the cafe while we waited.

On our second day we decided to risk our lives with Toung again and set off on a day tour of the Nha Trang countryside. We visited families, each with their own traditional trade. For example there was the clay pot oven makers, rice paper makers, conical hats, traditional mat makers, coffee bean roasters and bakery. We ended the day visiting a kindergarten where the kids were so excited to see us foreigners and even sung us a couple of songs, which was so cute. Then Toung took us to one of his favourite Vietnamese restaurants on the river where he ordered a feast, although we were not entirely sure of the contents of some of the dishes.