Busy Hanoi, Halong Bay and Sapa

Well alot has happened since the last post, we have seen the extremes of everything it seems. Dust, noise and the cacophony of sounds in Hanoi, drab garment factories where they make cheap clothes in the countryside, hundreds of signs with pictures of Golden Labradors advertising dog meat (!), the calm waters of Halong Bay, the chaos of the night train and the mountains in Sapa, near the border of Laos.

For our second day in Hanoi we started early and went to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. It took a long time to see him as it was very structured and security orientated. We got there by cyclo, which is a bike with a seat on the front. Anna and I sat in the front and our driver pedalled us around the old quarter of Hanoi. The traffic was scary as often it is coming right for us, but at the last second it just weaves around us. Our driver was an expert and kept telling us 'Don't worry, don't worry'.


Here is our cyclo and driver, Thiet.

Once we had passed all the security controls at the Mauseleum, we were allowed to go through and see Ho Chi. He was very serene lying in his glass sarcophagus with his wispy white hair and beard. It was a very subdued environment as there were armed guards all around him and we had to walk past without stopping. Behind the glass chamber was the socialist star of Vietnam and the hammer and sickle of Soviet Communism. Very blatant. Some Germans we met in Halong bay said they heard that Ho Chi Minh is in Russia receiving maitenance so who knows what was in the sarcophagus. Maybe Madame Tussauds has been busy? Here is a picture of the back of the mausoleum, the only part we could get a photo of.



After the Mausoleum our driver took us to the Temple of Literateure which was founded in 1049AD. It was about the only place we got fresh air in Hanoi. Being in the Cyclo surrounded by motorbikes we felt like we had exhaust pipes up our noses.

The Temple of Literateure







Me with my SARS mask

That afternoon we went for a walk around Hoan Kiem Lake. This lake was where John McCain's plane was shot down into during the war. He was captured and made a POW for a long time.





Here are some photos from the Water Puppets show we seen






On Friday we went to Halong Bay for an overnight cruise. This place is a UNSECO World Heritage Site. it has thousands of islands jutting out of the sea. It was a pretty different environment from Hanoi and incredibly beautiful. We crammed alot into the trip; swimming, kayaking, a visit to a cave and a bit of relaxing on the top of the boat. The only downside was the food, whole cooked crabs, fish and prawns would be presented on the table for us to disembowel ourselves and find the small amount of meat inside. We didnt eat much at all, but the scenery made up for it, especially the sunset we got.











After Halong Bay we caught the night train to Sapa, the rooms had two bunks each and we shared with an old French couple who didn't have a drop of english. It was hard to get up at 5am but we managed somehow. In Sapa we got hounded by two hill tribe women who obviously seen us as walking $ and would not leave us alone.

Even though we are at altitude here (1400m) it was still bloody hot during the day.










Well thats it so far!! We've been living off about NZ$20 a day which isn't to bad. Normally we can eat a meal for about $5 each. However, next week when our tour is over we will have to pay for everything so it'll cost about $40 - 50 a day. It has been great not having to worry about anything so far as the tour does it all, we have heard some stories of tourists being ripped off already, especially when leaving the airport and with accomodation in Hanoi so we just have to be wary.

Thanks Joy, Aunty Viv and David for joining the Blog :)

Bye for now

Jamie and Anna

Singapore Airport, Arrival and Settling In

Well we have finally made it, at the moment we are in the hotel in Hanoi, its 7am in the morning. 6 hours behind NZ so its pretty crazy getting used to that. First things first the driving over here is Nuts!! Yesterday we got picked up from the airport by our driver in a big black Toyota. As we left the airport we realised this country is about as far removed from NZ as you can get. The roads are two lanes but the lines may as well be invisible as there are scooters, motorbikes, bicycles, cars, SUV's and huge trucks all driving practically in the middle of the road and all trying to pass each other. Our driver leant on his horn the whole way telling smaller vehicles to move out the way. It was white knuckle stuff to us, but as soon as we seen the calm look of Cao Dai Buddhist serenity on his face we calmed down as obviously this was the norm here.

After squeezing through some impossible gaps and seeing whole families on one scooter (with baby in the middle) driving along the road, we arrived at the hotel which had the works...even porters that took our bags :O Today we plan to head out and do some exploring and go visit Ho Chi Minh in his mausoleum.

As for the start of the trip, the plane flight was fine, the ten hours flew by and we arrived at singapore at 5.30pm. It was quite fun in the airport (the 19th busiest in the world) and after some exploring we had a kip on some airport benches before we got into the transit hotel for a 6 hour nap.

Here are some photos, they are:

On the plane


The view of Singapore from the plane (see the ships)


The Koi Carp Garden at Singapore airport


The Singapore Sunset


Anna In the Hotel aaaand....


This is the view from our hotel window!



P.S. We are fine healthy and happy

Jamie and Anna

Pre Trip Mop Chops

Your generic before and after shot (with after shot first). Got to combat the humidity, first thing to go is the 'do. Anna got her mop tamed to, however this change is only percertible to the trained eye.


Anyway, first post...3 words to sum up: Incredibly excited !

Leave on Tuesday, November 24th for Singapore