And the score is….

Creatures of the overnight train – 1, travellers -1.  So we’ve arrived in Hanoi, in fact, although it’s only 10am we’ve already been here five and half hours.  There are currently only day rooms available which means that presently four of us are trying to sleep and shower in one room.  The room I’m going to be in eventually won’t be ready for at least another hour.  The overnight train was not so much of an ordeal as last time.  The train we had last night was immediately, obviously cleaner without signs that someone had been sleeping in our beds five minutes previously.  So we were off to a good start.  This time everyone stocked up on vodka, mixes and snacks.  We had the ipod on and some very competitive games of Uno and Snap! were underway.  It was all good, noisy fun – for us at least.  During a stop at one station, our tour leader was dispatched to quickly buy more alcohol because we were running dry fast.  Today will indicate how good Vietnamese rice based vodka is for someone.  We’ve got free time today, so a few of us will go out wandering soon.  Tomorrow we get a city tour of all the highlights (but we won’t get to see Ho Chi Minh up close and personal because he’s on his yearly trip to Russia for touch ups).

Bracing myself for the overnight train

Today was our second day in Hue.  We took a boat trip up the Perfume river to see the Thien Mu pagoda and Tu Duc’s tomb.  It was a good trip and the pagoda and tomb were interesting, but it really is getting cold here.  It drizzled a bit today which combined with the temperature made us start thinking about buying winter gear.  No one brought much with them because we all assumed it would be relatively warm all through Vietnam.  But it’s not, and apparently the North is colder still.

Tonight we head back onto the overnight train.  Wishes are for rodent, reptile and bug free travel.  Our guide says mice on the trains are quite rare – we must have just been lucky .  This trip to Hanoi is longer than the the last one we took.  It’s about twelve hours long assuming we run on time.  I’ll keep you posted on rodent watch.

And on to Hue…

This morning we hopped on another bus for the relatively short trip to Hue (pronounced Hway).  This one was only four or so hours long.  It’s still overcast but not raining and it’s definitely getting cooler the further north we travel.  Hanoi and Sapa are going to be chilly.  This afternoon we walked to the Imperial Palace and had a look around. It’s set on quite a big area of land and there are many buildings of the former emperors to view.  Again, large portions of it were destroyed during the war, particularly the Tet Offensive.  Took lots of photos in addition to the many photos I’ve already taken.  We’re heading out for dinner later with the possibility of trying out new regional beers.  Tomorrow we take a boat down the Perfume River to visit a Pagoda and some Imperial tombs.

Happy Birthday to Natalie

Today we visited the Champa ruins at My Son.  They are part of a the old Indian influenced kingdom of Champa.  Many, many centuries old.  It was quite a good trip and the site is an hour or so away from Hoi An.  It’s not a big set of temples like Angkor Wat but it was nice to go look around something really old and ruiney.  I’d been sort of missing that after last years trip.  The temple sites suffered during the Vietnam war.  Site B remained largely unscathed and you can still see the structures pretty much as they once stood.  They certainly resemble buildings.  Other sites suffered heavily during bombing in 1968 and 1970 something.  All that is left of those sites is foundations and bomb craters.  There are also practically no statues left on site as the French archaeologists who unearthed the temples removed them to a museum in Da Nang.  It’s just another reminder of how much is lost during wars.  These buildings stood for centuries undisturbed and probably largely unmolested but they can be destroyed with so little thought and effort.  Central Vietnam is lovely though.  It hasn’t rained again although it’s overcast and the temperature is much cooler here.  There’s lots of greenery and some mountains.

On a brighter note, Natalie who is on this tour is having her birthday today.  So we’ll be heading out for dinner and cake in a few hours.  Tomorrow we leave Hoi An (and its numerous shops) for Hue.  This time we go on the bus not the train (our next overnight train is in a few days).

It’s stopped raining but this new town is flooded…

We arrived in Hoi An very early this morning (about 6am) and were able to immediately go to our rooms.  This meant we were free to unpack, sleep, and shower (rather necessary after the night train).  Mid morning we headed out to have a look around Hoi An.  If you’re interested in having clothes made for you, this is the place to do it.  At least half to two thirds the shops here are tailors and dress makers.  Most of the other shops in the Old Town are cafes and restaurants.  There are so many tourists from all over milling about on the streets.  It’s a definite tourist hot spot.  It is also just a little bit flooded here.  Although the rain seems to have stopped for now, the centre of town is under water.  It’s not as bad as last year apparently but at least two streets are under water. 

On our wander around some of the group decided to get clothes made and although they have a lot of nice stuff, none of it seems interesting or different enough to bother with the fittings.  You can however get almost anything made in this town - clothes, shoes, bags, ties, the works.  In the afternoon we walked to some of the local sights including a Japanese covered bridge, a Chinese temple and saw a short, local music and dance display.  Tomorrow a number of us are heading about forty kilometres away on a half day trip to see the Champa ruins at My Son.

Lizards and mice and bugs…Oh My!

We’ve now completed our first stint on the overnight trains here in Vietnam.  It was certainly an interesting experience and we have three more night trains before we’re done.  In our cabin of four we stocked up on snacks, vodka and a pack of cards to pass the time.  We boarded the train in Nha Trang for the nine hour journey to Da Nang.  As we entered our cabin we realised that the previous passengers we had just seen disembark had also felt the need to sleep in what were to be our beds for the night.  Discarding the sheets and blankets already there we managed to get a hold of some clean ones to cover our mattresses.  

After we had settled in the vodka, snacks and cards made an appearance, as did an iPod player full of dubious pop tunes.  I’m sure our travelling companions in the cabins either side of ours will agree that we are truly awesome at sing alongs.  We were also engaged in a pretty serious game of Snap!  Fingers could have been lost.  Our merriment was unfortunately interrupted by the appearance of a small mouse that decided to jump on me and crawl in my hair.  The other three occupants of the cabin screamed bloody murder and ran into the hallway.  Of course everyone still thought we were playing silly buggers (or Snap!) and didn’t come out to see what was happening.  This morning it turned out that one of the guys had found a small lizard in his bed and some of the others may have encountered bed bugs (eeeeew).  So, all in all I got about four and half hours sleep before we disembarked but I’d rather deal with a mouse than bed bugs.  After the train arrived in Da Nang we hopped on a bus and rather groggily made our way to Hoi An where we will stay today and tomorrow.

Raindrops keep falling on my head

Finally we went on our boat trip today.  It rained the whole way out to the island, which shouldn’t have been a surprise.  Once there it cleared for a while and some of us jumped in for a swim.  No snorkeling because the weather’s been rotten and there wouldn’t have been anything to see.  It was a good trip though and we were served a delicious lunch on board. 

Tonight we board our first overnight train.  Four to a small cabin it travels through the night, taking us further north.  It leaves just after 8pm and arrives in Da Nang about 5/6am.  From Da Nang we take a bus for another hour or so to reach our final destination Hoi An.  We’ve got two days in Hoi An and apparently the weather is rubbish there too.  Hopefully it will clear but we just have to wait and see.

Another day in (raining) paradise

So, no boat trip today.  it did clear up eventually but not enough to venture out on the open seas.  The boat trip is postponed till tomorrow now – weather still permitting.  So with a free day in Nha Trang a big group of us decided to head off to the local mud baths and hot springs (yes mud is a theme in this town).  We had a very relaxing few hours soaking in hot mineral springs and generally lazing around before heading back to town for a late lunch.  It’s dinner and drinks tonight at the local yacht club (we’ll see if it’s fancy).  Here’s hoping for clear skies tomorrow

From the misty mountains to the rainy coast

And we’re back online.  I had a great time in Da Lat, but was so busy enjoying my trip I didn’t make it to an internet cafe.  After our marathon bus trip up into the mountains (which took all day 8am til 5pm – breaks included) we finally arrived in Da Lat.  It is of course busier and bigger than the quiet little ethnic hamlet the guidebooks make it out to be.  We had a great time exploring though.  On our free day there our guide offered to organise us a motorbike tour of all the best sights around Da Lat. It was a great day – we visited a minority village where they speak very little Vietnamese, saw a very tacky waterfall (pictures to follow at some point), a summer residence of a former president, rode in cable cars to visit a pagoda and generally had a a lot of fun just motoring about.  Da Lat is a resort town in the mountains so comes equipped with a variety of kitsch and tacky outings, including paddle boats on the lake that are shaped like swans (there were some at the waterfall too – and a Vietnamese cowboy and a couple of elephants).  It has beautiful flower gardens but is much colder than Saigon, we all ended up wearing our hoodies and jumpers.

Today we hopped on a bus again, but this time it was a much shorter trip.  We arrived in Nha Trang which is a coastal resort early afternoon.  After so many bus trips with buses and drivers of varying quality (interpretive driving styles such as talking on mobile phones while manoeuvring down a thin, steep, windy mountain road with one hand) we decided to take the afternoon easy and six of us went a visited a local spa.  It was absolutely pouring with rain, so exploring our local surroundings wasn’t appealing.  The spa was fantastic, there were massages and mud wraps, which made for a very relaxing afternoon.

Tomorrow we will hopefully go on our planned boat trip but the weather will likely decide that for us.

Happy Teacher’s Day!

Hi! Today was our day trip to the Cu Chi tunnels but in Vietnam it was also Teacher’s Day.  All the schools seemed to have displays, balloons and flags on show.  Lots of small children running about in their uniforms or in some very fancy frilly dresses (for the girls). 

The visit to the Cu Chi tunnels was very interesting although it was quite a warm day.  We were able to watch an excellent introductory video about the history of the tunnels. It was entirely from the guerilla fighters point of view which had at least one older American man in the audience muttering under his breath about propaganda.  It explained how the people of Cu Chi were very peaceful but then the crafty American devils came to wage war, many thousands of miles from their own country.  We even saw pictures of a few local heroes who won medals for being outstanding American killer heroes.  The tunnels themselves were very small but the one we crawled through had evidently been made a bit larger for fat westerners, although there were clearly some westerners there who were never going to fit.  It was pitch black in parts of the tunnel and was small enough that we had to crawl along for a while.  The area around the tunnels is very well set up and has a number of displays showing how the guerilla fighters lived, worked, cooked, and tended their injured.

Tomorrow we take a very long (8 or 9 hours) public bus ride to the Central Highlands town of Da Lat. I’m really looking forward to going there, and to being somewhere else as I’ll have been in Saigon a week tomorrow.