Wow. The last few weeks have been absolutely amazing and I'm not quite sure where to start....I suppose from where I left off. I don't have a lot of time right now, and I am a bit sleepy (had a 6am flight this morning) so I'm sorry if this is a bit abrupt and scattered/boring. Ok, here goes. The rest of our time in Hoi An was great. It is a very nice little town, not a ton of things to do, but we managed to stay occupied for about a week there. We got some clothes made, had really good meals and met some good people. Our Australian friends from Nha Trang (Lachlan, Jamie and Ian) met up with us after a few days and we ended up traveling up the coast with them for two weeks. It was nice to always have a fun little group - and these boys were wonderful and quite entertaining. We rented bikes a lot, went to the beach a few times, and had lots of clothing fittings. Oh, one day Willy, Ashley and I rented bicycles and rode around through really secluded rice patties - winding through the fields was lovely and we passed many a water buffalo. On our last day there the six of us decided it was time to do something a bit more cultural and rented a van to go to the old ruins of "My Son", about two hours outside the city. These were a bit dilapidated and overgrown but in a beautiful way. One could probably spend a day there wandering through tons of sites and different ruins.... but we had enough after about an hour (and I made the mistake of wearing a silk dress on the absolute hottest day... quite sweaty and gross). From there we drove to Danang, and caught a flight up north to Hanoi.
Hanoi was a bit colder and very busy, but after having already experienced Saigon I felt pretty comfortable with all of the chaos. In Hanoi we had awesome street food - lots of pho ba (watery noodles with beef and bean sprouts, you add your own chilies, lime, mint and basil leaves - it's a Vietnamese staple). Also could have eaten dog, no idea. Lachlan turned 31 while we were there, so we went to a movie theater and saw Avatar - which we all loved. All three boys teared up multiple times while we did not, hmmmm. We also went to a nice dinner and then out dancing. While most bars close at midnight in Hanoi, we happened to stumble across (the cab driver just dropped us off at) a bar/club that stayed open well into the night. We were the only foreigners there which was kind of fun, and we had a great time. We thought it was a bit bizarre at first that every time one of us took out a camera we were immediately approached and told to put it away/"no photos". This made more sense when we figured out that it was a big mafia establishment, haha. It was a good night. While in Hanoi we did a two day trip to Ha Long Bay, which was absolutely incredible and like nothing else. It is on the northeastern coast of Vietnam about three or four hours outside Hanoi, and consists of hundreds of rock formations/little mountain islands that poke out from the deep turquoise water. While we were there it was just the right amount of foggy - making it even more mystical. Because of its stunning beauty, Ha Long is littered with "junk boats", or tourist boats. Even so, the boats are a bit quirky and their presence isn't the absolute worst thing. While on our two day/one night cruise we visited many floating fishing villages, took a little wooden boat around and checked out some caves from the water, and also walked through one huge cave. Our guide stopped us constantly to point out what he thought the stalagmites looked like with his laser pointer: "and here you see the dragon", "and here you see the dog".... I did not see these things. Our friend Jamie took the laser from the guide to point out what he saw to the group. That was much more amusing. When we got back to Hanoi Lachlan went back to Aussieland, Willy stayed with Jamie and Ian, and Ashley and I went to Sapa For three nights and two days.
Sapa is in Northern Vietnam very close to the Chinese border and set high in the mountains. We took an overnight train there and back and spent one night in a hotel with the most wonderful view. The main draw of going to Sapa is to see the H'mong villages and the truly incredible mountains. The first day instead of going with our tour group Ashley and I rented a motorbike and went to the Cat Cat village by ourselves. This meant we drove down an incredibly steep, potholed, rocky dirt road and not to brag - but I am getting pretty good (and confident) on motorbikes. I love them. The village was wonderful, though lots of women and children bothering you to buy textiles and bracelets. They also love to ask you the same few questions: name, age, nationality, pets, siblings - and in turn we would ask them the same things. I always felt jealous when we talked about pets, I would say I have one dog and an eight year old girl would tell me she has ten chickens, a water buffalo, two dogs, some cats and a mini pig. I desperately want a mini pig. The next day we did a little trek into another village which was also quite lovely. I can't really explain these mountains and the setting of these little villages, even pictures don't do it justice. Being there was kind of a full sensory experience, even though that sounds ridiculous. From there we went back to Hanoi and caught a flight that night to Vientiane, the Capital of Laos. Leaving Vietnam was a bit sad - I was definitely excited for Laos, but I really enjoyed my time in Vietnam and felt nostalgic about leaving. Also was quite sad to separate from our little group of Aussies - truly loved spending time with them.
Laos is sooo relaxed, especially compared to Vietnam. It is very quiet here, much less hassling and hardly any "hey lady, you buy from me?"... so that is quite glorious. Just the occasional "tuk tuk?" I really love it here, but would like it infinitely more if there were not so many tourists. I guess I am a country behind, because we are leaving Laos for Cambodia in about 4 days (and I don't think I'll have Internet access in those few days). I'm going to have to write about Laos from Cambodia. We are currently in the south (in Pakse) and are leaving tomorrow morning for a three day kayaking/trekking trip down to the 4,000 islands, and then taking a bus into Cambodia. Sorry I haven't blogged in so long, I know I am leaving out sooo many things. I am going to try to stay a bit more caught up from now on. Love to all!
Hanoi was a bit colder and very busy, but after having already experienced Saigon I felt pretty comfortable with all of the chaos. In Hanoi we had awesome street food - lots of pho ba (watery noodles with beef and bean sprouts, you add your own chilies, lime, mint and basil leaves - it's a Vietnamese staple). Also could have eaten dog, no idea. Lachlan turned 31 while we were there, so we went to a movie theater and saw Avatar - which we all loved. All three boys teared up multiple times while we did not, hmmmm. We also went to a nice dinner and then out dancing. While most bars close at midnight in Hanoi, we happened to stumble across (the cab driver just dropped us off at) a bar/club that stayed open well into the night. We were the only foreigners there which was kind of fun, and we had a great time. We thought it was a bit bizarre at first that every time one of us took out a camera we were immediately approached and told to put it away/"no photos". This made more sense when we figured out that it was a big mafia establishment, haha. It was a good night. While in Hanoi we did a two day trip to Ha Long Bay, which was absolutely incredible and like nothing else. It is on the northeastern coast of Vietnam about three or four hours outside Hanoi, and consists of hundreds of rock formations/little mountain islands that poke out from the deep turquoise water. While we were there it was just the right amount of foggy - making it even more mystical. Because of its stunning beauty, Ha Long is littered with "junk boats", or tourist boats. Even so, the boats are a bit quirky and their presence isn't the absolute worst thing. While on our two day/one night cruise we visited many floating fishing villages, took a little wooden boat around and checked out some caves from the water, and also walked through one huge cave. Our guide stopped us constantly to point out what he thought the stalagmites looked like with his laser pointer: "and here you see the dragon", "and here you see the dog".... I did not see these things. Our friend Jamie took the laser from the guide to point out what he saw to the group. That was much more amusing. When we got back to Hanoi Lachlan went back to Aussieland, Willy stayed with Jamie and Ian, and Ashley and I went to Sapa For three nights and two days.
Sapa is in Northern Vietnam very close to the Chinese border and set high in the mountains. We took an overnight train there and back and spent one night in a hotel with the most wonderful view. The main draw of going to Sapa is to see the H'mong villages and the truly incredible mountains. The first day instead of going with our tour group Ashley and I rented a motorbike and went to the Cat Cat village by ourselves. This meant we drove down an incredibly steep, potholed, rocky dirt road and not to brag - but I am getting pretty good (and confident) on motorbikes. I love them. The village was wonderful, though lots of women and children bothering you to buy textiles and bracelets. They also love to ask you the same few questions: name, age, nationality, pets, siblings - and in turn we would ask them the same things. I always felt jealous when we talked about pets, I would say I have one dog and an eight year old girl would tell me she has ten chickens, a water buffalo, two dogs, some cats and a mini pig. I desperately want a mini pig. The next day we did a little trek into another village which was also quite lovely. I can't really explain these mountains and the setting of these little villages, even pictures don't do it justice. Being there was kind of a full sensory experience, even though that sounds ridiculous. From there we went back to Hanoi and caught a flight that night to Vientiane, the Capital of Laos. Leaving Vietnam was a bit sad - I was definitely excited for Laos, but I really enjoyed my time in Vietnam and felt nostalgic about leaving. Also was quite sad to separate from our little group of Aussies - truly loved spending time with them.
Laos is sooo relaxed, especially compared to Vietnam. It is very quiet here, much less hassling and hardly any "hey lady, you buy from me?"... so that is quite glorious. Just the occasional "tuk tuk?" I really love it here, but would like it infinitely more if there were not so many tourists. I guess I am a country behind, because we are leaving Laos for Cambodia in about 4 days (and I don't think I'll have Internet access in those few days). I'm going to have to write about Laos from Cambodia. We are currently in the south (in Pakse) and are leaving tomorrow morning for a three day kayaking/trekking trip down to the 4,000 islands, and then taking a bus into Cambodia. Sorry I haven't blogged in so long, I know I am leaving out sooo many things. I am going to try to stay a bit more caught up from now on. Love to all!
