David & Catrionas Indo China Adventure

Woke this morning feeling like crap.
We had a drive from hell to the boarder. The driver headed off in the wrong direction which set us back about an hour. We were stuck in a traffic jam for no reason and the air conditioning on the bus was not working well.
What a start to my 37th birthday.
We were stuck at the boarder crossing on the Vietnam side for 2 hours. We went through 2 checkpoints where they manually recorded details from our passports. While waiting I took a cold tablet I got from Lorna so at least I started to feel physically better.
But what a difference a boarder can make.
The Cambodians where smiling and helpful. So everyone in the group imediately started to feel better.
We stopped off for lunch along the way and the people there couldn't do more for us.
Arrived in Phnom Penn and checked in to our hotel where we showered to get rid of the travelling dust and headed off to dinner at a resteraunt run by a local charity.
The group gave me a present a hacky sack type thing with feathers on the end and a map of Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia with all the places we stayed circled.
After dinner the lights went out and the staff brought out a birthday cake and everyone sang happy birthday including a group of orphans that the owner of the resteraunt sponsors. We all got birthday hats and they sprayed foam and silly string on us and sang a Cambodian song.
It was a great dinner.
After dinner we went to the FCC (Foreign Corespondants Club) where a group of Foreign Corespondants were holed up when pol pot took over in 1970. Then went to a club called Ginger monkey where we played pool and I got a free CSC shooter. Bailys floated on butterscotch shnaps. Lovely. Good end to an otherwise bad day.

Well we are in another bustling city again.
Didn't arrive till late afternoon so Marcus our leader took us for lunch at Pho 2000 (a noodle soup bar) then a walk to show us nearby sights.
One of them was the Lion Micro brewery where they had a few litres of beer and I had a hot lemon drink.(Widely available on the menu lucky for me with the way I am at present)
We went back to the markets close to our hotel for dinner. Where the food was good but as we had lunch at around 5pm we didn't eat too much.
The younger ones headed off to a bar and as I was still sick headed off to bed.
In the morning we found that a couple of them had been pick pocketed so we were glad we had gone home.

25th Headed off after breakfast to the Chu Chi tunnels where we saw a propaganda film on the "American War" then had a look around and were able to crawl throught the tunels. I was only a metre in and couldnt see and the air was too stuffy so I backed out. This freaked David out as I am usually the braver of the two of us. He had to crawl past 3 or 4 people to get back out. The guide had told us we would be under there for 20 minutes and I didn't think I could do it. In fact it was 20 metres. Anyway I wouldn't have wanted to spend years living in the tunnels like the Viet Cong.
After the tunnels we headed back to Siagon and visited the war remnants muesum. Many photos etc from foreign journalists showing the atrocities from during the war.
Dinner agian at the markets then off to bed as still sick.

Only 3 more days till my birthday, just in case you forgot.
We have had a good couple of days here in Hoi An. David has had 2 suits each with 2 pairs of trousers made + 5 shirts. I have 1 pair of 3/4 pants, a black silk dress, a vietnamese top and pants, a sun dress, 2 sleeveless shirts, a satin skirt, 2 silk tops and 2 silk scarves made. Luck we brought along an empty bag with us as I think it will be full by the time we leave.

We hired bikes Yesterday and the day before and rode to the beach and all around. Unfortunately the weather is overcast and sometimes rainy so we didn't have a chance to spend any time at the beach swimming.

I have a cold now, sore throat and runny nose. David is just getting over his. Today we move on to Saigon. Our flight is at 1pm so it is a kind of rest day hopefully the rest will help us get better.

Well what another jam packed day.
We set off this morning with the group on the back of motor bikes for our tour of the area around Hue. Feeling a bit nervous at first. I only had a skirt as the rest of our clothes at the wash. Managed to organise myself without getting it stuck in the spokes.
On our journey we saw people planting rice and ploughing the paddys to prepare for planting.
We were riding down little tracks some concrete others dirt or broken bitumen.
We passed women washing the clothes in the river and people fishing right next to them.
We stopped at a conical hat maker who only had one and 1/2 arms. The best hat maker in Vietnam we were told. She has been to china because of her skills.

We stopped off at an old US army bunker high on a hill overlooking a bend in the river. Excellent vantage point. We went to the tomb of the longest reigning emperor Tu Duc. Had lunch at a Budhist monestary all vegetarian and very yummy.(thanks for the excellent word choice David)

Had a boat ride to finish off the day and back to our hotel to rest before dinner and 'raging'.(Thanks again David)

Arrived in Hue this morning by overnight train from Hanoi. A very interesting trip. We were sharing with John and Lorna the Canadian couple. We all ended up in the bar carriage near the front of the train playing cards and drinking with some locals. Not sure what their drinking game was but they were yelling out something in Vietnamese and then you had to scull. Had a Cyclo tour and visited the Citadel which was mostly destroyed during the "American"/Vietnam War.

We spent a magical night on Ha long bay in a junk. We went kayaking and swimming off the boat. The rooms were good and even had showers and toilets. We explored the limestone cave similar to Janolan or Wombian caves as well. It was good to be off the road. One of the guys on our trip described the traffic very well. It is 3 lanes of traffic travelling down a 2 lane highway. As I have to sit looking out the front because I get sick if I don't, I saw the most amazing sights. Not for the faint hearted. We are travelling on the wrong side of the road heading towards a big truck with another truck next to us and no where to go. But there were no accidents and no near misses as a near miss is only when you lose a side mirror.

our way from Halong bay to Hanoi our bus had to stop to be repaired as it had gear box problems and was stuck in 3rd gear. We waited for 2 hours in a resteraunt where we could see them preparing meat, fish etc. The smells were awful as you can probably imagine.

The one and a half days we spent in Hanoi were hectic. The pace of life is amazing.
They seem to live on the streets. They wash their clothes, eat, pee, spit you name it they do it in the street. Around the corner from our hotel we saw some guys building an industrial range hood in the street. A little further up the road they were making picture frames. People having their hair cut. The petrol stations are a guy sitting by the side of the road with used soft drink bottles filled with petrol and a bike pump.

Arrived in Hue this morning by overnight train from Hanoi.
A very interesting trip. We were sharing with John and Lorna the Canadian couple.
We all ended up in the bar carriage near the front of the train playing cards and drinking with some locals. Not sure what their drinking game was but they were yelling out something in Vietnamese and then you had to scull. Wish I could show you the photos. May be able to upload when we get to Saigon.

Spent the day travelling today.
What a difference a boarder makes. It is completely different here to Laos. The drivers are much more agressive as are the people. We are missing Laos already.
Overnight here in Ninh Binh. See picture of our room. Off tomorrow to Howlong bay and overnight on a Junk.
Will update when we get to Hanoi.

David had been up during the night still not well. He has come down with the tummy bug everyone else has been getting.

We had a good trip to our homestay at Tha Bak. Many interesting things to see along the way. People planting in the rice paddys. Little villages etc.

Went for a canoe ride to watch the sunset. The scenery is spectacular. David stayed back in the village to rest.

All the children in the village came out to check us out and play. We had dinner in one of the huts and slept on the floor on mats coverd in mosquito nets. An interesting experience.

Set off to Buddha park after breakfast. It is about 25km outside Vientiane on a very bumpy road.
A monk made all the statues in 1958. They are a mixture of Buddhist and Hindu.

We hired bikes in the afternoon and rode around Vientiane. Saw the golden Stupa and climed the vertical runway . The vertical runway is and arc de triumph type structure that was made from cement donated by the Americans for a runway. We stopped at the markets and had a look around but are feeling a bit marketed out.

Had a drink by the Mekong again watching the sun set. Then had dinner with Kelli at an Indian resteraunt and headed off to the cop chai bar to do a bit of dancing.
David wasn't feeling to well so he went back to the hotel room for a spew.
He came back and we did a bit of dancing but they didn't play as many dance tunes as the previous night.
Off to bed at 11.30 for an early start.

Can't post any picutres yet will have to wait till we get to a bigger city.

Very early start today, up at 6am to watch the monks collect alms. Basically people line the streets and monks walk down in single file while people put donations of sticky rice etc into their alms bowls. Some children also line the route and the monks give them stuff out of thier bowls. (People belive they recieve good Karma from giving to the monks).
Next breakfast at a local cafe and then on to tour of Royal Palace. Palace has been a mueseum since 1975 when royal family exiled.

Back to the guest house for final pack then to the airport for our trip to Vientiane. 100 seater plane with two props. Uneventful flight although some were a bit nervouse.

Now in Vientiane where we posted our postcards and had lunch at a lovely cafe.
Off to walk by the river now and dinner tonight with the group at a local restaurant.

Woke at 7 am with breakie on the verandah again. Then set off for a trek to Kwang Xi Waterfall. 3 hour trek through magnificent scenery and little villages.
The waterfalls were beautiful. Photos to come.

Fed a tiger that was orphaned and now kept in a large compound. Also fed some orphaned bears that were taken from poachers.

Went to village and saw the process of silk making and the weavers making scarves. Also saw them making paper from the bark of a tree.
Then on to That Phu si to watch the sunset. Unfortunately all the other tourists had the same idea so it was rather crowded up there.

Had BBQ dinner back at the guest house with the rest of the group and an early night.

Woken by room service at 8 am and had breakfast on the verandah overlooking the river. (1st picture is of our accomodation, we were in the bungalo on the left, John and Lorna in the one on the right)Very hard to take. Hired push bikes and rode around town. Bumped into the Canadian couple John and Lorna and had morning tea with them.

We played a soccer game against some other tourists and local kids. It was Australia and England (Us) Vs the rest of the world. We won 4-3. It was a great experience playing with the locals and others from around the world. The kids were about 10 years old.

We set off back to the guest house after the game to change and had a romantic dinner for 2 at a lovely resteraunt called Indochina Spirit. The meal was fantastic although I couldn't eat much of it. It was a selection of Lao delicacies. Meekong river weed (like sea weed) fried with sesame seeds. Bamboo shoots stuffed with minced pork. Fish soup. Lauang Prabang pork sausages a lovely salad and fruit salad. Fantastic.

The people drive really slowly mostly motor scooters. Some even holding their umbrella while riding along.

Set off early tummy still a little tender only able to eat 1/2 my sticky rice for breakfast.
(I tried eating wheat for the first couple of days and ended up blowing up like a baloon so back to proper diet, unfortunately here it means rice, vegetables and fruit. No gluten free bread hear)

Another magical day traveling down the Meekong. Stopped in the afternoon at Pak oau caves. They are filled with thousands of buddha statues. Then on to Luang Prabang where we are staying for the next couple of nights.

THe guest house we are staying in is fantastic. See the pictures.
We went out to dinner and then walked through the night markets and on to a bar where we played a drinking game. I went really heavy on the bottled water while David had another beerlao.

We stayed in a really nice guest house in Chiang Khong where we crossed the boarder to Laos.
I didn't see much as I spent the afternoon and night in the room.
David had a lovely dinner and went out to the teepee bar with the others afterwards.
The bar had no tables or chairs. They sat on mats on the floor and played drinking games.
After they left the bar David went back to someone elses room to play cards.
Every hour it seemed he came to check up on me. Nice thought but would have been much better to let me sleep.

Next day we crossed boarder into Loas. Had to pay 10 Baht tax for leaving Thailand on the weekend and 20 Baht to enter Laos on the weekend. Caught a couple of songhows to the spot where we caught our boat for the slow trip down the Mekong.
Nice boat with rows of wooden benches and a space at the back with mats to lie down and rest or do whatever.

The scenery is magnificent. Lots of little villages along the way. People panning for gold and fishing in the river.

We stayed the night in Pak Beng a little town 160 km down the river. Visited a little temple where we listened to the monks chanting at sunset. Back into the town for dinner and some more beerlao for David and a shandy for me. After dinner met back up with some of the younger crowd for drinks and to play pontoon. I won 4 times. Then off to our rock hard bed for a good nights sleep.

Had a very bumpy trip to Chiang Mai. What a relief to get there.
Went elephant riding, watched the others do bamboo rafting.
Had lunch in some markets on the way back.
Went up to Doi Suthep (Suthep Hill) to see the sun set.
There is a big Budhist temple up there.
Took lots of photos but unable to post as I forgot the cable.
Will post when I find a PC that accepts my card.
Woke up This morning feeling really crook.
Can't keep anything down. Hopefully I will be better tomorrow.
Will try to post again soon

Well we arrived safely in Bangkok 2 nights ago.
Trip to the hotel was a wake up. No such thing as following traffic rules.
Just drive where ever you want. I don't know why they waste the paint
on lane markings.
First day we caught up with Chris on msn which was good.
(Expected he would be on the PC)

Spent the day wandering the markets close to our hotel and did a walking tour of the area
Banglamphu out of our library book, Lonely planet Bangkok.
(Chris don't forget to renew our library books)

Food has been good. We ate in the hotel the first morning and after that have eaten from street stalls and little road side cafes.
The people are all really friendly and we are having a much better time than when we were in Singapore.

Yesterday we took a taxi from hotel to a shopping centre near Siam square looking for memory card. Went up tallest building in Bangkok to 84th floor. David freaked out a little even though it was his idea. From there we caught the BTS sky train to the river then a ferry to number 5 peir and walked to China town. Amazing markets selling everything imaginable. Found 1GB memory card 1000 baht cheaper than at shopping centre.
Walked back to hotel. It was miles and our legs were about to drop off.

Met up with the tour group at 6pm and had dinner at a street stall with beers and coctails. Spent about $10 between the 2 of us.

Anyway we are off sight seeing today and head off to Chiang Mai by overnight bus tonight. There was a problem with over booking on the overnight train so things have changed. Quicker journey anyway.