The End

So, I have returned.  Arrived at Brisbane Airport nice and early this morning.  It may have been 7am Brisbane time but to me it still felt like 4am (which it was in Vietnam).  I’m glad to be done with airports for the time being.  My few hours in Singapore were really good – they have the best airport, but the time I spent in Hanoi’s Noi Bai airport is time I’ll never get back.  It’s definitely the crappiest airport I’ve seen, and it’s incredibly small for being the airport of a capital city.  I was glad to see the back of it.  Didn’t sleep much on the plane.  Those seats are just not built for comfy napping, so I’ve been catching up at home today. 

So, this is the end of my travel blog.  Thanks to those who joined me on my trip and read it. Considering it was an experiment I think it’s gone alright and hopefully hasn’t bored anyone too much.  Thanks again to those who wrote in and kept me posted on happenings at home and let me know someone was actually reading the blog (other than my Mother)  : )

…I guess it’s time to return

Well, it will be good to see everyone again, but I really don’t want my holiday to be over.  I spent my last day in Hanoi having a wander around the Old Quarter and buying lots of stuff (or at least spending a bit of money).  I guess now it’s time to come back to reality   I head off to the airport at 10am and my flight leaves there at 1.30pm.  I arrive back in Australia on Friday morning, nice and early.

P.S. I think I’ve lost my torch.  I know I had it in Sapa during our rice wine evening but I don’t think I packed it up last night in Hanoi.  I have no idea where it’s disappeared to or when it disappeared.  Just as well it was an el cheapo supermarket one.

Ha Long Bay on the rice paddies

OK, so the description is a wee bit overblown but my day trip to Tam Coc in Ninh Binh (think like Nimbin for pronunciation) province was really lovely.  The people you end up travelling with on day trips though – they’re always a little weird.  There are many, many French tourists in Vietnam.  Our group encountered them in practically every hotel we stayed in and every major sight we visited.  So of course there were a few on my trip yesterday, including a very opinionated and slightly grabby older French man who was very relieved to find out I was Australian not American.  Which was probably just as well considering his views on America, imperialism, colonialism, the war, the EU, Italy’s place in the EU, the English language, and pretty much everything else he felt like discussing with everyone.  I ended up tallking with a Thai girl called Aon because we were the only ones from our countries on the trip.  Everyone else was from France or Germany.

But more importantly, my trip to Tam Coc.  Pictures probably describe this area better but basically part of Ninh Binh province has a series of gigantic limestone karsts and mountains similar in look to Ha Long Bay (but inland).  Tam Coc (meaning three caves) is an area where a river flows along what would be the valley floor.  In some places it is only waist deep and it flows through three caves.  The attraction here is that you can get in a rowboat and be rowed for about two hours through the valleys and mountains and through the three caves – some of which are so low you can touch the ceiling.  It was a lovely afternoon and definitely worth seeing.  We had spent the morning viewing two temples that had been established when Hoa Lu (in Ninh Binh province) had been capital back in the eleventh century.  And the best part?  The crazy French man stayed behind, so I didn’t have to listen to him for the nearly three hour return journey (although I did have to listen to the bus drivers awful taste in music).

Just a few days to go…

It’s all flown by far too quickly.  I now only have two full days left in Vietnam before I begin flying home on Thursday (I won’t actually arrive till Friday morning).  Not much has happened since I last wrote.  We survived our last night train experience largely by being too tired to be concerned about dirt and rodents.  Everyone has been doing their last minute shopping and we’ve had quite a few good byes already.  After about 8pm tonight, I’ll be on my own in Hanoi.  I wouldn’t mind but our hotel is not in a touristy area which means it’s severely lacking in dinner opportunities.  I’m trying to decide if I want to eat at the dodgy place next door which offers local specialties like fried turtle (and more usual things like fried rice) or venture further afield. 

Tomorrow I’ve booked a day tour to another province just to the south of Hanoi.  I’ll get to see some local villages and a few pagodas and caves of varying importance.  Hanoi is not as busy as Saigon, so although I enjoy being able to cross the street most of the time, I do miss their better markets and abundance of restaurants close to the hotel.  I’ll shop for last minute things and wander around again on Wednesday, then it’s nearly home time.

Vietnamese rice wine is lethal

Today we completed our trek in Sapa.  Considering last night’s efforts on the rice wine, today’s shorter trek was actually seemed harder.  Yesterday we walked about twelve kilometres up and down mountain sides.  I’ve got lots of pictures of terraced rice paddies, one of which I actually managed to stick one of my feet in this morning when I overbalanced.  Who says altitude, a cold and the after effects of serious drinking don’t mix?  The homestay was lovely but between ten or eleven of us we managed to polish off over two litres of the local home brew.  Much merriment followed (as did pictures). 

It’s quite cold up here in the mountains and almost all my warm clothing now has mud on it.  It’s also not a relaxing experience trekking in northern Vietnam due to the fact that each group usually ends up with nearly double the amount of people trekking when the local ethnic women decide to tag along and occasionally try and sell you stuff.  They can be quite persistant.  Tonight we catch the night train back to Hanoi and a number of the group leave over the next two days as the tour ends.  I’ve got a few more days in Hanoi so will have to decide if I’m going to be lazy and stay in the city, or think about doing a day trip somewhere.

You buy, You buy…

I’ve now been to Ha Long Bay.  We had a lovely overnight cruise on the bay on fantasticweather.  The boat we stayed on is like a floating hotel so each room had twin beds and and ensuite (yeah we’re totally roughing it).  Because it was sunny we were able to sea kayaking and swimming in one of the sheltered harbours.  I had a great time exploring on the kayak and the swim was good, if a tad chilly.  It was definitely one of the best boat trips we’ve had on this trip (along with the Mekong Delta). 

After we returned to Hanoi for a few hours, we boarded the night train for Sapa.  The train actually goes to Lau Cai and you catch a bus to Sapa – it’s about an hour away.  It’s lovely up here in the mountains again.  A bit hazy and cool but sunny weather all round.  A few hours after we got in from the train we all went on a couple of hours hike to the bottom of the valley (and back again) to visit an ethnic tribal village (and see a waterfall).  I suppose it’s good practice for the overnight hike tomorrow.  Sapa has quite a few tourists which means that many local tribeswomen come up the valley to wander around town selling you things (mostly bags).  Every time you leave the hotel – you buy, you buy; where you from?; what’s your name?  Never tell them maybe later because they will remember you.  Nevertheless there are some lovely things for sale in Sapa, so I’m definitely going to do some shopping before I leave.

It’s another sunny day in Hanoi

No joke.  The weather is beautiful and sunny.  None of the freezing temperatures we were expecting.  Yesterday I went for a wander through the Old Quarter and around Hoan Kiem lake with my room mate Jess (who also found sharing  a room with two others a bit crowded).  We had brief look at the big market here but unless you’re really into knock off designer bags and shoes, it’s a bit boring.  There’s not even a great deal of touristy crap.  The Old Quarter is great and will require a bit more exploring.  It seems to be full of DVD stores, silk shops and cafes.  There’s also an open air market where you can buy all kinds of meat, fish, turtles and these weird worm looking things that apparently live in water. 

The lake is a lovely place to be on a warm sunny day.  It is an interesting green colour and is clearly the place for young Hanoians to make out.  The cafes there are quite expensive but I guess you pay for water views everywhere.  In the evening a few of us went to a water puppet show.  Water puppets are a traditional northern Vietnamese thing.  All of the stories are traditional and set on the water/in rivers or rice paddies and the stage is actually under water, like a great big pool with all the set decorations around it.  The puppeteers stand behind a screen while in the water and operate the puppets from there.  They have to stand in nearly waist deep water the whole performance.  It’s bit hard to explain but it was interesting to go see.  The guidebooks hype it up a bit but it was worth seeing once.

Today we went on a city tour of Hanoi, taking in the big sights.  First we visited Hoa Lo prison, also known as the Hanoi Hilton.  Not much of it now remains but what is there has been turned into a museum.  There were a few pictures of John McCain on the walls, back then and more recently.  American pilots who crashed in North Vietnam ended up staying there until the war was over.  We also visited the one pillar pagoda (it’s quite small), the Temple of Literature (more temple, less literature – unless you count the postcards I bought), and although we couldn’t see Uncle Ho (who apparently doesn’t go to Russia for touchups now – Vietnam does all the upkeep) we did see the presidential palace and his somewhat famous stilt house.  Ho Chi Minh never lived in the palace but lived in the small stilt house in order to show that he was still one of the people.  We had lunch at Koto (Know one, Teach one) which is a restaurant that supports and trains disadvantaged young people to work in hospitality.  The food was delicious.  There are a few of these type of restaurants about.  In Saigon there is another one called Sozo (don’t know if it stands for anything) - I recommend the citrus cake.  In fact all the food in Vietnam has been good, I’ve eaten so much during this trip.  The mango flavoured cornettos are really very good. 

Tonight we sadly say goodbye to seven members of our tour as they are finishing their shorter trip.  So there is definitely dinner and drinks on the menu tonight.  I can’t believe how fast this trip going.  Tomorrow we head off to Ha Long Bay where we will spend the night on the boat after sight seeing.